Graham  Taylor  [Resident  Warden]  . 


\!u  MJkVfcY 


•    '      •       ' 


Chicago  Commons 

A  Social  Center  for 
Civic  Co -operation 


Grand  Avenue  and   Morga.n   Street, 
Chicago 


December    1904 


. ^7731) 


C  K  i  eago   Commons : 

A  Social  Center  for  Civic  Co-operation 

By  Gra.ha.rn  Taylor,  Resident  Warden 

America  needs  discovering  over  again.  A  new  America  is 
coining  to  be.  It  is  being  made  of  all  the  old  peoples,  but  in 
combination  so  new  that  their  life  together  is  almost  as  unknown 
and  strange  as  the  land  was  to  the  discoverers.  Ships  were  not 
more  necessary  to  the  explorers  in  finding  the  new  world,  than 
centers  of  population  were  to  the  colonists  in  founding  the  new 


nation.  At  the  geographical  centers  of  their  original  towns  our 
New  England  forefathers  forged  three  links  of  association  for 
the  common  interest.  Their  ''center"  church  was  like  the  flag- 
staff of  the  commonwealth  which  kept  floating  high  over  the 
heads  of  all,  their  ideals  of  life,  individual  and  social.  Closely 
allied  with  it  was  the  free  school,  the  bulwark  of  the  state  and 
the  buckler  to  the  citizen,  in  being  a  common  possession  to  which 

1 


Lost 
Centers. 


all  had  more  equal  right  than  to  anything  except  the  village 
green.  Under-girding  both  and  representing  the  whole  com- 
munity was  the  Town  Meeting,  where  freemen  met  on  an 
equality  never  realized  before. 

But   our   populations   no   sooner   became    diverse    in   race   and 
religion   and   subdivided   in   industrial   occupations   and   interests, 


From  Sunny  Italy  to  eight  below  zero. 


A  Common 
Denomi- 
nator. 


than  they  began  to  lose  these  centers  of  association.  The 
churches  continued  to  hold  up  the  common  ideals  of  religion 
and  generate  the  power  for  self-sacrificing  service.  But  as  they 
themselves  were  divided  more  and  more  by  the  very  intensity 
of  religious  conviction,  they  became  less  and  less  able  to  rally 
the  whole  community  for  united  action.  The  towns  fast  and  far 
outgrew  the  political  possibilities  of  the  Town  Meeting.  But  the 
more  effective  party  caucus,  priimry  and  convention  were  sorry  and 
divisive  substitutes  for  its  social  co-operation.  The  public  school 
remains  not  only  all  that  it  was  planned  to  be,  but  with  far  more 
possibilities  of  neighborhood  helpfulness  than  was  even  dreamed 
of  until  very  recently. 

Meanwhile  in  America  as  nowhere  else  in  the  world  a  com- 
mon denominator  is  needed  to  solve  the  problem  of  our  increas- 
ingly cosmopolite1  n  population  and  complicated  life.  The  lesson 
of  living  and  working  together  which  our  forefathers  learned 


so  well  under  their  simple  conditions,  we  must  learn  over  again 
in  a  complexity  of  life  hitherto  unequaled  in  any  land  or  age. 
To  recover  some  sort  of  a  center  and  bond  of  fellowship  and  co- 
operation, under  the  changed  conditions  of  life  and  labor  in 
all  our  cities,  many  of  our  smaller  towns  and  even  in  country 
places,  has  become  more  and  more  of  a  social,  political  and 
moral,  not  to  say  human,  necessity.  For  it  is  just  those  pop- 
ulations which  have  lost  or  never  had  their  centers  of  neigh- 
borly and  patriotic  co-operation  that  have  been  the  worst  prey 
of  corrupt  politics  and  the  boss,  of  class  distinction  and  the 
demagogue,  and  of  a  sectarianism  suicidal  to  religion.  To  restore 
the  spirit  and  bond  of  neighborship  is  the  need  of  the  hour.  To 
beget  the  consciousness  of  each  other,  a  respect  for  each  other's 
characteristic  differences,  and  enough  of  a  give-and-take  good 
fellowship  to  live  and  work  with  each  other  has  become  as  im- 
perative as  the  instinct  of  self-preservation. 


For  a  New 
Neighbor- 
ship. 


The  landscape  where  there  arc  00,000  people  to  the  square  mile. 

3 


This  call  out  of  the  great  deep  of  the  common  life  was 
answered  out  of  the  depth  of  some  individual  lives.  A  heart 
hunger  for  a  larger  share  of  the  race  life,  a  greater  part  in  real 
things,  a  conscious  identity  with  the  common  life  sprang  up 
here  and  there  among  those  who,  for  one  reason  or  another,  felt 
more  or  less  apart  from  human  kind.  So,  more  by  an  instinctive 
impulse  than  by  any  concerted  movement,  groups  of  men  and 
women,  at  first  only  from  the  universities,  but  more  and  more 
from  other  and  equally  adequate  sources  of  supply,  took  up  their 
residence  among  and  became  a  part  of  the  residential  population 
in  the  industrial  districts  of  the  cities. 

Thus  social  settlements  arose  almost  spontaneously,  just  where 
To  Share  the  density  of  population  and  complexity  of  Hie  most  lacked  and 
The  demanded  the  ideal,  the  initiative  and  the  common  ground  which, 
Common  in  part,  at  least,  are  supplied  at  these  co-operative  centers. 
Lot.  We,  who  are  at  Chicago  Commons  to  share  the  common 
lot,  choose  to  live,  for  our  own  and  others'  sake,  where 
we  seem  to  be  most  needed,  rather  than  where  the  neigh- 
borhood is  supposed  to  offer  the  most  of  social  privilege 
or  prestige.  We  are  here  to  be  all  we  can  to  the  people 
and  to  receive  all  they  are  to  us  as  friends  and  neighbors.  We 
assume  the  full  obligations  and  claim  all  the  rights  of  citizenship 
in  a  community  with  whose  interests  we  identify  ourselves, 
whose  conditions  we  share  and  for  whose  home  happiness, 
material  welfare,  political  freedom  and  social  privilege  and 
progress  we  try  to  do  our  part.  When  in  order  to  be  entrusted 
with  and  legally  hold  the  tenure  of  a  building  and  its  equipment 
for  neighborhood  service,  a  few  friends  of  the  settlement  and 
its  community  were  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Illinois  into 
the  very  informally  organized  Chicago  Commons  Association,  its 
purpose  was  formulated  for  the  articles  of  incorporation  thus : 
"The  object  for  which  it  is  formed  is  to  provide  a  center  of 
a  higher  civic  and  social  life,  to  initiate  and  maintain  religious, 
educational  and  philanthropic  enterprises,  and  to  investigate  and 
improve  conditions  in  the  industrial  districts  of  Chicago." 

But  in  the  fellowship  of  its  work  Chicago  Commons  is  as  little 
of  an  organization  and  as  much  of  a  personal  relationship  as 
it  can  be  made.  It  seeks  to  unify  and  help  all  other  organi- 
zations and  people  in  the  neighborhood  that  make  for  right- 
eousness and  brotherhood.  It  is  not  a  church,  but  is  a  helper 
of  all  the  churches  and  is  in  active  co-operation  with  the  only 
English  speaking  congregation  among  them.  It  is  not  a  charity, 

4 


but  aids  in  the  organization  and  mutual  helpfulness  of  all  charita- 
ble agencies.  It  is  not  a  school,  but  it  is  in  tributary  sympathy 
and  action  with  the  public  schools  to  which  it  will  give  up  any 
part  of  its  work  that  they  will  take  up.  It  is  nonpartisan,  but 
has  been  a  rallying  point  whence  the  balance  of  political  power 
has  been  effectively  wielded  in  aldermanic  and  legislative  elec- 
tions for  nearly  a  decade.  It  is  not  an  exclusive  social  circle* 
but  aspires  to  be  a  center  and  source  of  the  best  social  life  and 


Opening   Day   at   the  Playground. 

the  highest  civic  patriotism.  It  is  not  a  "class  conscious"  group, 
but  refusing  to  be  classified,  strives  to  interpret  classes  to  each 
other  and  to  mediate  for  a  just  industrial  peace. 

Long  before  there  \vas   any  organization  or  any  property  or 

5 


An  Ex- 
change of 
Values. 


If  Fellow 

Citizens  be 

Friends. 


equipment  to  require  it,  the  Chicago  Commons  household  became 
a  center  for  the  simple  and  natural  interchange  of  personal 
values.  Representatives  of  most  of  the  twenty  or  more  nation- 
alities constituting  the  very  cosmopolitan  population,  for  the 
first  time  met  on  common  ground,  and  found  in  each  other  so 
much  to  interest,  respect  and  attract,  that  a  new  bond  of  neigh- 
borly relationship  and  co-operation  was  naturally  formed.  For 
ten  years  this  good  fellowship  has  deepened  and  spread.  Par- 
ents were  re-introduced  both  to  their  children  and  to  each  other, 
and,  from  the  natural  "freemasonry"  of  their  boys  and  girls, 
became  "hale  fellows  well  met."  A  new  neighborliness  spon- 
taneously sprang 
'ip  around  the 
common  center, 
which  has  always 
had  a  family  at 
the  heart  of  it.  An 
.unfailing  succes- 
sion of  capable  and 
unpaid  resident 
and  non-resident 
workers  has  given 
and  received  char- 
acter values  and 
help  to  self  help  in 
equal  proportions 
with  the  neighbors. 
A  still  larger  num- 
ber of  those,  differing  from  each  other  in  circumstances,  in 
views  and  in  personal  interests,  were  here  interpreted  to  one  an- 
other. Employers  and  employees,  suburban  residents  and  tene- 
ment dwellers,  radicals  and  conservatives,  partisans  and  sectari- 
ans, exclusives  and  common  folk  came  to  be  to  each  other  by 
turns  nothing  more  nor  less  than  men  and  women.  And  so 
fellow  citizens  became  friends. 

Out  of  these  personal  affiliations  there  gradually  arose  a 
series  of  social  clubs  with  varying  aims  and  methods.  Their  edu- 
cational value  has  always  been  real  and  designed.  But  the 
educational  purpose  and  method  have  always  been  held  secondary, 
and  even  incidental,  to  their  primary  and  most  effective  social 
aim.  While  the  Choral  Club,  for  instance,  has  steadily  raised 
its  standard  of  musical  taste  and  achievement,  it  has  grown  up 


Wash  Day  at  Camp  Commons. 


around  the  rare  spirit  of  fraternity  and  service  which  character- 
izes it.  Its  "Guild  of  Song  for  the  Suffering"  co-operating  with 
the  work  of  the  district  visiting  nurse,  makes  music  a  medium 
of  higher  worth  than  the  study  of  it  for  its  own  sake  could  ever 
be.  The  programs  of  the  Woman's  Club  have  intellectually 
developed  every  one  of  its  many  members  who  have  participated 
in  them,  but  the  glorious  good  fellowship  of  its  membership,  and 
its  enlistment  of  personal  interest  and  help  in  an  ever  widening 
range  of  neighborhood,  civic  and  social  co-operation  has  far 
more  developed  the  nature,  broadened  the  life  and  increased  the 
practical  efficiency  of  every  woman.  While  the  results  of  educa- 
tional effort  could  not  be  more  direct  than  those  attained  in  the 
manual  training  and  in  the  domestic  science  departments,  for 
instance,  yet  the  reflexive 
influence  of  settlement 
life  and  service  is  edu- 
cationally as  effective  and 
even  wider  reaching.  Here 
students  of  neighboring 
universities  and  profes- 
sional schools  have  found 
such  valuable  first-hand 
contact  with  life  that 
Chicago  Commons  has 
come  to  be  an  inter- 
academic  center  whose 
advantages  are  so  widely 
sought  that  a  waiting 
list  of  applicants  for 
residence  affords  us  a 
wider  range  of  choice.  A 
settlement  fellowship  has 
been  maintained  here  by 
the  students  and  profes- 
sors of  the  University 
of  Michigan  for  the  past 
eight  years.  The  Fellow 
of  the  College  Settle- 
ments Association  is  now 
in  residence.  Whole  class- 
es, with  their  instructors, 


From 
College  to 
Tenement. 


Where  parks  arc  needed. 


Educational 
Initiative. 


Before  and 

After 
Politically. 


are  frequently  in  attendance  upon  regular  or  special  occasions.  In- 
itiative was  given  by  this  settlement  to  the  Institute  of  Social  Sci- 
ence arid  Arts,  the  training  school  for  philanthropic  and  social 
service,  which  has  recently  been  established  in  this  city  by  the  co- 
operation of  experts  at  the  head  of  specialized  agencies  with  the 
University  of  Chicago.  In  addition  to  directing  these  departments 
of  instruction  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  the  Chicago  Theo- 
logical Seminary  and  the  settlement,  the  warden  during  the  ten 
years  of  his  residence  has  so  constantly  responded  to  widely 
scattered  calls  for  popular  teaching  that  an  extension  lectureship 
has  informally  developed  with  more  regularly  recurring  op- 
portunities for  brief  courses  at  educational  and  other  centers 
throughout  the  country  than  can  possibly  be  taken  advantage  of. 

By  a  more  direct  medium  of  exchange  than  money,  industrial 
values  have  interchanged  at  Chicago  Commons.  Without  fear 
or  favor  men  have  expressed  themselves,  and  have  been  inter- 
preted to  each  other  across  the  lines  of  industrial  cleavage  and 
class  antagonism.  Extreme  radicalism  has  well  nigh  disap- 
peared through  the  safety  valve  of  free  speech.  The  "free-floor" 
discussions,  having  fulfilled  their  function  in  establishing  respect 
for  individual  convictions  and  freedom  of  personal  expression, 
have  been  superseded  by  a  club  of  neighborhood  men,  for  social 
fellowship  in  the  study  and  practice  of  good  citizenship.  Such 
has  been  the  confidence  inspired  by  the  sometimes  costly  impar- 
tiality of  the  settlement's  independent  attitude,  that  the  services 
of  its  warden  are  sought  for  the  arbitration  of  industrial  disputes. 

The  contrast  between  the  politics  of  the  ward  and  its  repre- 
sentatives in  the  City  Council  before  and  after  the  balance  of 
political  power  began  to  be  wielded  by  its  independent  vote,  em- 
phasizes as  nothing  else  can  the  value  of  such  centers  for  pro- 
moting and  perpetuating  good  citizenship.  For  years  this  ward 
regularly  furnished  its  full  quota  to  the  "gang"  majority  in  the 
council  chamber,  which  numbered  fifty-eight  over  against  an  hon- 
est minority  of  only  ten.  After  eight  years  of  struggle,  in  which 
the  Community  Club  became  the  live-wire  of  the  Municipal  Vot- 
er's League,  its  aldermen  have  been  among  the  ablest  and  most 
aggressive  constituents  of  an  honest  majority  of  fifty-five,  easily 
controlling  the  remnant  of  fifteen  "gray  wolves"  still  surviving 
the  killing-off  of  the  pack.  The  judge  presiding  over  the  election 
commissioners  declares  that  in  as  many  years  of  service  he  has 
never  known  the  voters  of  a  district  better  to  understand  the 


election  law  and  more  fearlessly  and  independently  to  enforce  it. 
The  citizens,  thus  emancipated,  take  more  intelligent  interest 
in  the  departments  of  city  administration  and  their  work  in  the 
ward,  in  the  progress  of  the  schools  over  whose  public  occasions 
their  aldermen  now  preside,  and  in  the  municipal  policy  with 
reference  to  street  railways  and  other  questions  of  common 
concern. 


The  Auditorium. 


These  wider  aspects  of  the  settlement  work,  although  of  most 
interest  to  the  general  reader,  do  not  even  indicate  the  influence 
of  the  house  as  a  neighborhood  center  upon  individual  character, 
home  life,  and  the  social  relationships  of  the  community.  The 
few  pictures,  to  which  limited  space  confines  our  description,  can 
only  faintly  suggest  the  ways  in  which  personal  ideals  are  lifted, 
tastes  are  cultivated,  pleasures  are  purified,  labor  is  lightened, 
friendships  are  deepened  as  they  are  formed  about  higher  inter- 
ests, and  the  religion  of  relationship  to  the  divine  and  the  human 
is  realized. 

The  intellectual,  manual,  recreative,  civic,  ethical  and  religious 
work  with  the  multitude  of  small  groups,  centering  at  and  man- 
aged by  the  house,  indoors,  on  playground,  in  park,  museum  and 
"Camp  Commons,"  by  no  means  measures  its  influence.  For, 
outside  organizations  using  its  facilities  in  their  own  or  neigh- 

9 


Inside 
and  Out. 


Where  all 
Meet  and 
Mingle. 


The 

Neighbors' 
Response. 


borhood  interests  are  as  effective  as  anything  attempted  by  the 
residents.  The  gymnasium  is  at  the  daily  disposal  of  the  neigh- 
boring Montefiore  public  school,  whose  building  is  pitifully  in-- 
adequate for  the  neediest  children  to  be  found  in  the  city. 
Alumni  associations  of  three  public  schools  regularly  meet  here, 
as  does  the  "Sisters"  School  Gub  of  St.  Stephen's  Roman 
Catholic  parish.  The  Armenian  colony  unites  its  diverse  inter- 
ests under  our  roof;  the  nationalists,  the  old  Gregorian  church 
and  the  Protestant  mission,  meeting  separately  and  sometimes 
together.  The  alumni  and  other  associations  of  Lutheran 
churches,  and  also  a  Catholic  temperance  order  are  equally  at 
home  on  this  common  ground.  Pleasure  clubs,  athletic  associa- 
tions, private  musical  and  elocution  classes  share  the  hospitality 
of  the  house. 

The  telephone  exchange  girls  through  a  self-governing  club 
supply  other  settlement  organizations  with  entertainment  pro- 
grams and  assist  in  other  features  of  the  work. 

Public  school  teachers  and  district  nurses  come  to  it  for  their 
noon  day  rest.  The  Chicago  Daily  News  free  public  lecture 
course,  for  the  adult  constituency  of  the  school  district,  is  held 
in  our  auditorium.  All  political  parties  hold  their  mass  meet- 
ings there.  The  Tabernacle  Church  has  the  use  of  the  whole 
new  building  reared  on  its  old  corner  for  its  services,  Sunday- 
school,  Children's  church  and  weekly  appointments,  which  are 
independent  of  and  distinct  from  settlement  occasions. 

The  fire-light-story  evening  in  the  club  room,  the  Saturday 
night  socials  around  the  open-hearth  of  the  neighborhood  parlor, 
and  the  "family  resort"  provided  at  the  Pleasant  Sunday  After- 
noons in  the  auditorium  cheerily  round  out  the  equipment  for 
household  pleasure  and  profit  which  is  added  to  every  home 
by  this  neighborhood  house.  The  response  of  the  neighbors 
to  the  advantage  thus  ottered  is  partly  measured  by  the  num- 
bers using  the  house,  and  by  the  share  they  bear  of  the  cost  of 
maintenance.  The  permanent  settlement  groups  include  2,500 
regular  attendants.  The  weekly  attendance  in  the  Tabernacle 
Church  groups  numbers  over  800.  The  total  number  of  those 
thus  regularly  coming  to  the  house  is  over  3,200.  Some  weeks 
the  outside  groups  and  special  occasions  add  from  500  to  1,000 
more  people  using  the  building. 

The  financial  co-operation  of  the  neighborhood  groups  yields 
about  $1,800  per  annum  toward  maintenance,  to  which  all  of 
them  contribute  something.  But  some  of  them  give  liberally  to 

10 


the  common  cause  in  ways  not  registered  upon  settlement  ac- 
counts. 

The  values  entering  into  individual  lives  and  becoming  a  part 
of  community  interests  transcend  those  which  are  to  be  calculat- 
ed by  the  use  of  the  center  whence  they  emanate.  Facts  and  fig- 
ures, groups  and  occasions,  cannot  tell  the  whole  story.  For  the 
larger  and  better  part  of  it  lies  in  the  hidden  history  of  human 
hearts,  and  in  those  pervasive  influences  which  go  forth  not  only 
directly,  and  through  co-operation  with  the  district  nurse,  the 
charity  bureau,  the  department  of  health,  the  building1  and  street 
inspectors,  the  juvenile  court  and  the  police  station  house,  the 
aldermen  of  the  ward,  the  public  schools,  the  universities,  the 
labor  unions,  employer's  associations  and  the  churches,  but  also 
by  that  more  subtle  uplift  and  unification  of  the  common  life 
imparted  by  the  mere  existence  and  success  of  such  an  effort. 

Estimated  by  the  cost  of  the  building  and  its  equipment, 
$72,000  (on  which  $9,175  remain  to  be  paid),  and  the  $10,650  re- 
quired to  maintain  it  and  the  work,  the  dividend  declared,  in  the 
gratuitous  service  of  the  resident  and  non-resident  workers  and 
in  the  steadily  rising  personal,  neighborhood,  civic,  and  still 
wider  social  values  rates  the  investment  among  preferred  public 
securities. 


For  Value 
Received. 


11 


y                                                    CC  O  i/}  Q              re                   O*                       vO                         O 

*       I          T1^     I      1        r        i 

OcoOOvOwU)v)v>O»4OU)SOm 

Q  </>        Nr^Otsf^r^—  w                       i/lTt-N  —   MOt^^Nf^^-Lnr^Ajr^N 

W     ;             j     •     . 

f"  •        S  ;  :  '.  :  i  :  :  i  :      •••••.••.-.... 
<  :        E  •  •  •  •  ::-::::•:•..:::      : 

J                         ro  m 
\no  g  O 

ft    I<S 

:        en    •;••;••• 

;       c  '.'.'.''.'• 

How  SUPPORTED. 
....  By  Training  School  
N 
....Bypupils'  tuition.  $60  each  per  year 
t  $90  per  Mo.  Paid  for  children  $30.  Bal.  shared  by  Matheon  Club 
Material,  fuel,  light  &  janitor  paid  by  IDC.  and  gc.  lesson  fees 
..  ..Cost  of  Material  met  by  makers  of  Garments 
..  ..Self  -Supporting  
....  Pays  teacher  and  furnishes  Material  
....  Meets  all  expenses  
..  ..Supported  by  exchange  of  work  for  garments 
..  ..Weekly  dues  maintain  Equipment  , 
.  .  ..  Pupils  purchase  lumber  

..  ..Class  fees  maintain  Equipment.  . 

hfl 
c 

t 

H 

r 

..  ..Cost  $450,  met  in  part  by  campers.  Boys  145,  Girls  130  
...Cost  $350  for  four  Months.  Average  daily  attendance  

Milk  paid  for  by  purchases.  Bottles  per  week 

JlAlsUV  LrK.Ul.'1'S  Kh.UUJ.AKL.Y  MKH.T1NU 
AVERAGE  WEEKLY  ATTENDANCES  ON  SPECIAL  OCCASIONS 
TOTAL  AVERAGE  WEEKLY  ATTENDANCE  .. 

~).  .  .Contributory  .  .  . 
..  ..Supported  by  Choral  Club  . 

..  ..Self  -Sup  port  ing  
....Contributory  . 
.  .  .  .Self  -Supporting  
....  Contributory  to  Nursery  

•j  •  •  ;  : 
Q  ::.;:.  '.  .  • 

ta   ;•::::  5       '.^ 

en 

STERILIZED  MILK  
PERMANENT  SETTLEMENT  GROUPS...  . 
ATTENDANCES  TABERNACLE  CHURCH 

KINDERGARTEN  
PESTALOZZE-FROEBEL  KINDER 
TRAINING  SCHOOL  
MATHEON  DAY  NURSERY 
f  COOKING  SCHOOL  
DOMESTIC  SEWING  SCHOOL  
AWT  ATVTT\  J  SHIRTWAIST  Cl.UB... 
EMBROIDERY  CLASS..  . 
SCIENCE  HOUSEKEEPERS'  CLUB 
1  RUG  CLUB  
BOYS'  CLUBS  
MANUAL  TRAINING., 
r-rwi  «'  r^r  TTDC 

. 
z 

y 

.Da 

)*>< 

1^-3 
20 

CULTURE  ELOCUTION  
CLASSES  i  DRAMATic  
[  DANCING  CLASSES  
(  CHICAGO  COM.  CHORAL  CLU 
1  INTERMEDIATE  CHORUS  ... 
MUSIC  -j  CHILDREN'S  CHORUS  . 
|  PRIVATE  PUPILS  
{MANDOLIN  CLUBS  
WOMEN'S  CLUB  .... 
MEN'S  COMMUNITY  
YOUNG  WOMEN'S  PROGRI..S 
^^^  ,  MOTHERS'  CLUB  .  . 
[  ASSINIBOIAN  CI.UB  
PLEASANT  SUNDAY  AFTERNOOJ 
CAMP  COMMONS,  ELGIN 
PLAYGROUND  (Six.e  90x120  feet)  . 
OUTINGS  TO  COUNTRY  AND  PARr 

Schedule    of   Appointments. 

Daily  :— 

Day  Nursery  7  a.  m.  to  6  p.  m. 

Kindergarten  9  to  12  a.  m.  except  Saturday. 

Community  Club  Rooms  for  members  every  week  day  evening. 

Monday : — 

2-4  Kindergarten  Training  School. 

4:00  Gymnasium  Class  (boys  8-12  years). 

4:00  Kindergarten  Extension  Club. 

4:15  Girls'  Club  (girls  10-15  years). 

4:00  Cooking  Class  (girls  9-12  years). 

4:00  Manual  Training  (girls  10-14  years). 

7:00  Cooking  Class   (girls  16-18  years). 

7:00  Music. 

7:30  Wild  Rose  Club  (girls  10-14  years). 

7:45  Boys'  Club. 

7:30  Shakespeare    Club. 

7:30  Gymnasium  Class  (young  women). 

7:30  Boys'  Club. 

7:30  Manual  Training  (young  men). 

8:00  Girls'  Club. 

8:00  Girls'  Progressive  Club. 

Tuesday : — 

2:00  Woman's  Club. 

2-4  Kindergarten  Training  Class. 

3:30  Cooking  Class. 

4:00  Manual  Training  (boys  10-12  years). 

4:15  Italian   Girls'   Club. 

4:15  Musical  Club. 

7:30  Nature  Study  Class. 

7:30  Embroidery  Class. 

7:30  Men's  Gymnasium  Class. 

7:30  Manual  Training  (working  boys  14-16  years). 

7:30  Cooking  Class   (Alumnae). 

7:30  Boys'  Club. 

8  :00  Mothers'  Kindergarten  Club. 

8:00  Parliamentary  Law. 

8:00  Mandolin  Club. 

13 


Wednesday : — 

9-12  Rug  Club. 

9-12  Old  Clothes  Sale. 

2-4  Kindergarten  Training  Class. 

2-4  Monroe  Telephone  Exchange  Girls'  Club. 

3 :30  Advanced  Cooking  Class. 

4:00  Children's  Chorus. 

4 :00  Girls'   Gymnasium   Class. 

4:00  Boys'  Club. 

7 :30  Cooking  Class. 

7:30  Metal  Work,  Pottery,  Clay  Modeling,  Basket  weaving. 

8:00  Choral  Club. 

7:30  Italian  Boys'  Club. 

7 :30  Dressmaking  Class. 
Thursday : — 

2 :4  Kindergarten  Training  Class. 

3 :30  Cooking  Class. 

4 :00  Boys'  Club. 

4:00  Manual  Training  (boys  10-14  years). 

4:00  Junior   Mandolin   Club. 

7:30  Boys'  Club. 

7:30  Cooking  Class  (young  women). 

7:30  Shirt  Waist  Class. 

7 :30  Manual  Training. 

8 :00  Seventeenth  Ward  Community  Club. 
Friday : — • 

2  :00  Washington  School  Mothers'  Club. 

3:30  Cooking  Class. 

4:00  Manual  Training. 

7:30  Gymnasium  (working  boys). 

7:30'    Violet  Club. 

7:30  Boys'  Club. 

7:30  Cooking  Class  (young  women). 

7:30  Dramatic  Club. 

8 :0()  Choir. 

8 :00  Literature   Study  Group. 

8:00  Sketch  Class. 

Saturday : — 

9:30  Gymnasium   (boys  9-12  years). 

9  :30  Cooking  Class. 

9:30  Manual  Training  (boys). 

14 


10:00     Sewing  School. 

2:00     Dancing  School. 

7:30     Basket   Ball. 

8  :00     Neighborhood  Social. 

8:00     Children's  Social. 

8 :00    Assiniboian  Club. 

8 :00     Dancing  School. 
Sunday : — 

4  :00     Pleasant  Sunday  Afternoon. 
Penny  Savings  Bank  : — 

Tuesday  7  :00  to  8  :00  P.  M. 

Thursday  4  :00  to  5  :00  P.  M. 

Saturday  9:00  to  10:00  A.  M. 

TABERNACLE  APPOINTMENTS: 
Sunday : — 

10:00     Bible  School. 
11:00     Morning  Service. 

7:00     Children's  Church. 

8  :00     Evening  Service. 
Wednesday : — 

7:15     Children's  Church. 
7  :15     Intermediate  Christian  Endeavor. 
8 :00    Endeavor  Prayer  Meeting. 
9:00    Teachers'  Class. 
Thursday : — 

2:00     Ladies'  Aid  Society. 

DEPARTMENTS  OF  WORK   BY  RESIDENTS  IN  CHARGE. 

Italians  are  the  most  numerous  of  all  in  our  cosmopolitan  kin-       ,_. 
dergarten.    But  among  the  eighty  children  there  are  many  nation- 
alities represented.     The  Italians  understand  and  speak  very  lit-        2artcn* 
tie  English  when  they  come  to  us  in  September.     Before  the  year 
is  over,  however,  they  do  so  quite  readily. 

The  ages  are  from  2%  to  6  years.  We  take  them  at  this  early 
age  because  we  feel  that  the  sooner  they  come  under  the  kinder- 
garten influence  the  better  for  their  development.  So  there  are,  in 
fact,  two  kindergartens,  one  for  the  littlest  folks  and  the  other 
for  the  older  children. 

The  spacious  and  well-equipped  kindergarten  rooms  make  it 
possible  to  emphasize  all  sides  of  the  work.  The  kitchen  is  a 
most  attractive  place  when  the  children  are  working  in  it.  They 
wash  and  iron  their  luncheon  napkins  and  doll's  clothes,  and 
make  jelly  out  of  the  rosy  apples  for  the  Thanksgiving  party. 

The  pictures  in  the  kindergarten  rooms,  the  stories,  songs, 
games  and  work;  the  excursions  to  parks,  the  market  or  the 
blacksmith;  visits  to  the  cow,  the  chickens  and  pigeons;  these 

15 


and  the  many  other  happy  experiences  that  come  to  the  child 
through  the  kindergarten  place  him  in  a  new  and  wonderful 
world.  And  the  lives  of  these  children  are  made  happier 
and  richer  by  the  kindergarten  festivals  planned  during  the 
year,  such  as  birthday  parties,  Thanksgiving,  Christmas  and  May- 
day celebrations.  The  mothers  and  other  members  of  the  family 
are  often  invited  on  these  occasions  and  all  rejoice  together. 

Every  Tuesday  night  the  mothers  gather  at  their  meeting. 
Three  of  these  each  month  are  devoted  to  English  speaking 
women  and  one  to  the  Italians.  At  the  meetings  of  the  English 


The  Kindergarten  gets  its  first  look  at  the  milk  supply. 

speaking  mothers,  many  helpful  subjects  are  discussed.  Part  of 
the  evening  is  given  over  to  games,  songs  and  stories,  and  it  is 
a  veritable  grown-up  kindergarten.  Difficult  it  is  to  tell  whether 
the  mothers  or  the  children  enjoy  it  most.  Some  of  the  mothers 
have  been  coming  six  and  seven  years,  though  their  children  have 
long  since  left  the  kindergarten. 

The  Pestolozzi-Froebel  Kindergarten  Training  School  was 
T  *?*_.! Q  started  soon  after  the  kindergarten  and  is  now  in  its  eighth 
year.  The  training  school  grew  out  of  two  needs.  First,  no 
training  school  could  supply  us  with  enough  help  to  carry  on 
the  large  kindergarten  which  then  numbered  a  hundred  chil- 
dren. Second,  we  felt  the  need  of  having  helpers  trained  in  the 
industrial  and  domestic  lines,  in  addition  to  the  regular  kinder- 

16 


Training 
School. 


garten  course,  as  those  lines  of  work  are  the  distinctive  features 
of  the  settlement  kindergarten.  Aside  from  making  the  kinder- 
garten work  more  complete  and  thorough,  the  training  school 
has  been  able  to  help  the  settlement  in  a  substantial  way  by 
furnishing  the  funds  to  support  the  kindergarten.  There  are 
now  sixty  graduates  of  the  school,  many  of  whom  are  engaged 
in  settlement  kindergartens  throughout  the  country. 

In  addition  to  this  training  the  young  women  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  settlement  experience  and  have  its  great  object  lesson 
before  them  constantly.  They  also  take  an  active  part  in  clubs, 
classes  and  mother's  meetings.  All  of  these  contacts  and  ex- 
periences broaden  them  and  make  them  more  useful  in  their 
profession  and  their  work  in  the  world. 

Inquiries  for  conditions  of  admission,  or  for  teachers  available 


Distance  permits  of  only  an  occasional  visit  to  the  parks. 

17 


Matheon 

Day 
Nursery. 


for  kindergarten  work,  may  be  addressed  to  Mrs.  Bertha  Hofer 
Hegner,  180  Grand  Ave.,  Chicago. 

The  day  nursery  now  under  the  joint  care  of  the  settlement 
and  of  The  Matheon  Club,  was  started  in  1897  by  the  young 
women  of  this  organization  in  rooms  adjoining  the  old  Com- 
mons building.  It  was  for  several  years  entirely  supported  by 
them,  but  when  they  no  longer  felt  able  to  carry  the  responsibility 
and  expense  alone,  the  settlement  shared  both  with  them.  For 
the  last  two  years  the  nursery  has  been  less  expensively  provided 


Children  of  Working  Mothers. 

for  in  the  children's  floor  of  the  new  building,  though  at  no  lit- 
tle inconvenience  to  other  parts  of  the  work  to  which  this  space 
was  originally  assigned.  It  provides  for  the  children  of  mothers 
who  are  obliged  to  work  for  the  support  of  their  families  and 
who  willingly  pay  ten  cents  a  day  for  each  child  to  secure  the 
care  and  safe  keeping  of  the  nursery.  The  total  enrollment  is 
36  and  the  daily  attendance  averages  about  20.  The  ages  range 
from  a  few  months  to  six  or  seven  years.  The  older  children 

18 


attend  the  kindergarten  or  the  neighboring  public  school  in  the 
morning. 

The  marked  success  of  the  Matheon  Club's  energetic  efforts  to 
earn  support  for  the  nursery  by  their  bazaar  held  for  its  benefit 
is  cheering  evidence  of  their  hearty  co-operation  and  of  the  con- 
tinued success  of  the  beautiful  enterprise  which  they  initiated 
and  have  in  largest  part  sustained  all  these  seven  years. 

The  "gang"  principle  rules  in  citizenship  training  at  Chicago 
Commons.  If  the  power  of  the  gang  in  our  city  politics  is 
generally  recognized  as  evil,  its  influence  in  boys'  club  work  at 
the  settlement  is  seen  to  be  as  unquestionably  exercised  for 
good.  In  other  words,  clubs  organized  on  the  "group"  instead 
of  the  "mass"  plan  afford  the  most  valuable  opportunities  for 
real,  vital  and  thoroughly  wholesome  personal  relations  be- 
tween a  club  leader  and  every  boy  in  the  group,  and  between 
each  boy  and  every  other.  The  natural  instinct  of  the  boy  of  a 
certain  age  to  get  together  with  other  boys  in  a  gang  is  recog- 
nized and  utilized.  We  aim  to  take  advantage  of  that  trait  and 
make  it  the  basis  of  club  formation. 

One  hundred  and  seventy  boys  regularly  attend  these  group 
clubs.  Had  we  the  room,  and  the  club  leaders,  as  many  more 
boys  twice  over  would  get  the  longed  for  chance  "to  belong." 
But  the  club  space  has  been  filled  completely — and  that  without 
the  slightest  advertising,  boys  being  continually  turned  away. 

Gang  instinct  runs  strongest  in  boys  of  from  12  to  16  years  of 
age.  The  size  of  the  groups  varies  therefore  from  8  up  to  as 
many  as  45,  the  latter  composed  of  the  younger  boys  who  have 
not  become  associated  in  gangs.  To  feel  that  they  are  doing 
their  share  toward  the  maintenance  of  the  house,  each  club 
contributes  regularly  in  monthly  dues,  the  sum  from  each  boy 
being  about  five  cents. 

Two  rooms  in  the  basement,  well  lighted,  decorated  and 
equipped,  are  used  exclusively  for  boys'  clubs.  This  makes  pos- 
sible two  clubs  each  evening.  Fellows  of  from  12  to  18  years 
of  age  compose  these  ten  clubs,  while  the  boys  under  12  meet 
after  school  hours  in  the  afternoon. 

Training  for  citizenship  may  be  said  to  be  the  underlying 
purpose  in  the  clubs.  This  is  accomplished  in  various  ways ; 
games  afford  amusement  and  teach  "fair  play" ;  the  business 
meeting  adds  interest  and  teaches  the  way  to  conduct  meet- 
ings ;  talks  on  civic  affairs  and  business  concerns  by  men  from 
outside  the  club  enlarge  the  boys'  visions;  visits  to  art  galleries 

19 


Boys' 
Clubs. 


Training 

for 
Citizenship* 


and  other  places  of  interest  stimulate  the  ambition ;  and  parties 
given  to  "lady  friends"  or  parents  develop  the  boys'  social  quali- 
ties. But  most  important  of  all,  and  in  its  effect  largely  de- 
pendent on  the  personality  and  devotion  of  the  leader,  is  the 
friendship  between  the  boy  and  club  leader.  It  gives  an  oppor- 
tunity for  hand  to  hand  dealing  and  heart  to  heart  living,  the 
value  and  influence  of  which  are  simply  incalculable. 

~.  *  ,  Some   two   hundred   girls    are   enrolled    in   the  various    Girls' 

f~  ,  Clubs  and  so  steady  is  the  increase  that  membership  in  some  of 

them  has  had  to  be  limited  until  more  outside  assistance  can 
be  obtained.  The  afternoon  clubs  are  for  the  younger  children 
and  as  soon  as  school  is  out,  scores  of  little  Italians  storm  the 
door  ready  to  burst  into  tfie  club  room.  The  larger  clubs  are 
divided  into  small  groups  under  a  leader.  The  first  hour  is  spent 
in  hand-work  and  lively  discussions  arise  between  the  practical 
little  girl  who  wants  to  make  a  petticoat  and  the  child  whose 
beauty  loving  eyes  are  dazzled  by  pink,  green  and  red  ocean- 
wave  pillow  tops.  Then  after  the  work  period  comes  a  jolly 
half  hour  of  play. 

While  the  immediate  object  of  these  hand-work  clubs  is  the 
making  of  some  article  of  use  or  beauty  for  the  home,  the  ulti- 
mate aim  is  far  more  important  and  the  club  itself  is  but  the 
point  of  contact  for  the  attainment  of  this  less  obvious  end.  To 
the  child  comes  the  discipline  of  hand  and  brain  in  the  execution 
of  something  she  wishes  to  do ;  from  her  play  she  learns  the 
lesson  of  fairness,  of  living  and  playing  peacefully  with  others 
and  if  it  be  true  that  a  "little  leaven  leavens  the  whole  lump" 
this  bright  period  in  the  week  may  leaven  the  lump  of  the 
child's  existence.  The  club,  too,  becomes  the  channel  be- 
tween the  chilcl  and  the  settlement  so  that  the  ideals  of  the 
latter  find  their  level  in  the  former.  The  evening  clubs  are 
for  the  larger  girls  who  are  mostly  employed  during  the  day. 
One  of  these  clubs  is  the  Alumni,  composed  of  graduates  of 
the  nearby  Montefiore  grammar  school,  and  something  very 
elementary  along  the  lines  of  nature  study  has  been  introduced. 
The  members  of  this  club  have  found  by  the  aid  of  the  micro- 
scope that  they  really  do  not  "know  beans."  While  it  is  impos- 
sible to  pursue  the  study  of  botany  scientifically,  the  attempt  is 
made  to  encourage  a  love  of  Nature  in  these  city  bred  children. 
As  spring  and  summer  approach  picnics  and  excursions  to 
the  woods  will  supplant  the  winters  schedule  of  study. 

20 


Vesper  hour  at  Camp   Commons. 


Another  group  of  girls  are  engaged  in  the  making  of  paper 
dolls  to  order  and  as  these  are  unique  in  their  line  the  girls  are 
receiving  much  encouragement.  One  night  a  month  comes  the 
"fire-light"  evening  when  the  girls  gather  about  a  cheery  log 
fire  and  listen  While  some  traveler  tells  about  girl  life  in  other 
countries. 

Jail  cells  shared  by  tots  of  twelve  with  drunken  "rounders" ; 
court  rooms  in  which  the  playfully  mischievous  boy  took  his 
turn  with  the  most  disreputable  of  hags  and  lowest  criminals ; 
the  children  huddled  together  by  the  police  in  the  same  patrol 
wagon  with  hardened  and  vicious  characters — such  were  the 

21 


The 

Probation 
Officer. 


conditions  that  trained  up  criminals,  and  outraged  citizens  who 
knew  the  situation,  before  the  Juvenile  Court  came  in.  A  court 
by  themselves,  a  judge  who  understands  their  real  needs,  and 
a  kindly,  intelligent  system  of  dealing  with  their  cases,  whether 
they  are  sent  to  John  Worthy  School  or  placed  In  charge  of  a 
probation  officer,  give  the  delinquents  a  chance  and  a  hope  now- 
adays, and  places  responsibility  where  it  sometimes  belongs,  on 
the  heads  of  delinquent  parents. 

The  personal  relation  of  the  probation  officer  to  the  individual 
boy  or  girl  is  the  vital  part  of  the  whole  arrangement.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  every  probation  officer  does  not  have  a 
settlement  from  which  he  can  work.  And  on  the  other  hand 
the  settlement  is  enabled  through  an  officer  of  the  Juvenile  Court 
to  reach  certain  homes  that  otherwise  would  be  impossible  of 
access. 

Continually,  weary  and  distracted  mothers  are  appealing  to 
the  settlement  for  advice  in  caring  for  their  children.  The 
Probation  Officer  is  able  to  advise  in  such  cases.  He  "knows 
the  ropes"  not  only  to  the  Juvenile  Court,  but  at  the  Bureau 
of  Charities,  the  Relief  and  Aid  Society,  the  Children's  Home 
and  Aid  Society,  and  similar  agencies.  He  is  able  to  settle  many 
cases  out  of  court  by  virtue  of  the  power  invested  in  him. 

But  the  settlement  is  invaluable  to  the  Probation  Officer  be- 
cause  fundamental  in  the  parole  system  is  the  "report  in  per- 
Settlement's  SQn ,,     A  child  Brought  into  the  court  and  paroled,  the  parents 
Pcn     oc  "  then  visited  for  the  purpose  of  enquiring  about  the  child — such 
a  procedure  is  of  little  value  to  the  child.     That  child  must  be 
made  to   feel   its   responsibility  by   reporting  at  stated  intervals 
to  his  officer,  and  made  to  feel  its  responsibility  by  the  visits 
of  the  officer.     Through  the  visits  of  the  officer,  the  home  also 
must  be  made  to  feel  its  duty. 

The  settlement,  better  than  any  other  institution,  offers  an 
opportunity  for  the  child  to  report.  When  the.  boy  enters  the 
settlement  door  he  is  not  "spotted"  as  a  "court  boy."  This  would 
not  be  the  case  were  he  reporting  at  a  private  home.  There  is 
something  for  the  boy  to  do  in  a  settlement.  He  joins  a  club, 
the  gymnasium,  or  a  manual  training  class.  His  "reporting" 
becomes  voluntary  instead  of  obligatory.  His  environment  is 
changed,  and  so  his  life.  The  Probation  Officer  from  the  set- 
tlement center  knows  the  boy's  home,  school,  church  and  street 
life,  and  works  in  co-operation  with  all  these  agencies. 

22 


About  100  children  are  now  under  the  care  of  the  Probation 
Officer  in  residence  at  Chicago  Commons. 

Manual  training  has  a  wider  significance  in  development  of 
both  skill  and  character  than  is  usually  apparent  to  the  super- 
ficial observer.  To  bring  out  and  apply  to  its  fullest  extent 
latent  capacity  for  skill  in  workmanship  is  important  and  may 
well  be  considered  a  primal  object  of  the  work.  But  to  overlook 
the  opportunities  for  moral  development  would  be  to  lose  sight 
of  what  may  easily  be  made  the  most  valuable  and  far  reaching 
result  of  all.  What  can  better  show  the  youngster  of  slipshod 
and  even  dishonest  inclinations,  who  is  perhaps  under  parole 
from  the  Juvenile  Court,  the  inherent  value  of  trueness  than 


Manual 
Training. 


In  tJte  Manual  Training  Shop. 


the  difference  between  a  thorough,  honest  and  accurately  meas- 
ured piece  of  work  and  one  that  is  the  reverse  of  all  these.  The 
sled  that  Mike  is  making  will  either  be  strong,  durable,  true 
running  and  the  admiration  of  the  rest  of  "de  gang,"  or  else 
it  will  be  a  ramshackle  affair  soon  to  break  down,  and  of  which 
he  will  be  ashamed.  He  very  soon  sees  with  convincing  force 
that  if  he  lies  with  his  tools  he  cheats  himself.  Faithful,  honest 
workmanship  is  given  an  immeasurably  enhanced  value  in  Mike's 

23 


sight.    He  learns  in  his  own  terms  the  lesson  that  what  is  worth 
doing  at  all  is  worth  doing  well. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  a  considerable  number  of  the  parole  boys 
from  the  Juvenile  Court,  who  report  to  the  probation  officer  at 
the  settlement,  are  enrolled  in  the  manual  training  classes.  They 
are  kept  off  the  street  and  out  of  mischief,  and  are  taught  to  do 
something  with  their  Hands  that  perhaps  will  have  no  small 
part  to  play  in  helping  them  to  earn  their  livelihood.  But  in 
addition,  as  pointed  out,  scarcely  another  interest  at  the  house 
can  do  so  much  to  strengthen  and  develop  their  character. 

Hand  Made  As  soon  as  some  proficiency  is  shown  in  the  rudimentary 
Gifts.  work,  'the  boy  or  girl,  as  the  case  may  be,  is  permitted  to  exer- 
cise some  choice  over  what  he  or  she  shall  make.  Interest  is 
thus  greatly  stimulated.  With  the  approach  of  cold  weather 
sleds  have  become  popular.  One  lad  who  started  early  in  the 
fall  and  was  industrious  completed  a  fine  well  made  sled  some 
time  before  the  first  snow  fell.  He  was  asked  to  leave  it  as  a 
model  for  the  other  boys  to  imitate.  Although  this  was  con- 
siderable of  an  appeal  to  his  pride  in  his  achievement,  he  was 
very  fearful  that  the  snow  might  catch  him  unawares.  Sure 
enough,  the  very  first  little  flurry  brought  him  around  one  fine 
morning  before  anyone  had  yet  arisen,  with  a  demand  for  his 
own,  so  imperatively  made  that  no  alacrity  could  satisfy  his 
overmastering  impatience. 

Christmas  presents  have  also  been  made  in  large  numbers, 
and  many  a  mother  or  father  will  receive  a  piece  of  handcraft 
of  which  both  parent  and  child  will  feel  proud.  One  mother 
very  unexpectedly  came  around  to  see  what  her  son  was  making 
and  found  him  at  work  on  a  knife  and  fork  box.  He  felt  much 
grieved  at  the  untimely  discovery  until  he  persuaded  himself 
that  "she  never  would  know  ff  he  painted  it  black." 

Beside  sleds  and  knife  and  fork  boxes,  the  list  of  articles 
made  includes  cutting  boards,  pen-holders,  mail  boxes,  waste 
paper  baskets,  stools,  shoe  blacking  boxes,  tabourets,  tables, 
bookcases  and  chairs.  The"expense  of  wood  is  paid  by  the 
boys  and  girls-  except  in  the  case  of  the  smaller  ones  who  are 
making  smaller  articles. 

The  number  in  the  classes  is  now  63  boys  and  12  girls,  and 
the  ages  run  from  7  to  23  years.  Italian,  Irish,  German,  Nor- 
wegian and  Swedish  are  tne  nationalities  represented.  Monday 
afternosn  is  set  apart  for  school  girls,  and  Monday  night  for 

24 


older  boys,  while  on  Thursday  evening  there  is  a  class  of  young 
women.  The  boys'  classes  come  at  variolis  other  times  through 
the  week. 


As  much  of  "recreation"  and  as  little  of  "work"  in  physical  Gymnasium. 
culture  as  possible — that  is  the  theory  underlying  all  our  gym- 
nasium organization  and  instruction.  Class  periods  are  divided 
into  three  parts,  fifteen  minutes  for  calisthenics,  thirty  for  ap- 
partus  drill  and  forty-five  for  games.  Emphasis  is  placed  on  the 
development  of  self  control,  a  sense  of  fair  play  and  the  gen- 
erous sort  of  rivalry.  Each  class  has  about  thirty  members  and 
meets  once  a  week.  Of  men  and 
boys  there  are  now  about  150  en- 
rolled. Saturday  nights  are  giv- 
en up  to  basket-ball  games  with 
outside  teams  from  other  settle- 
ments, or  from  high  schools. 

The  gymnasium  is  well  equipped 
except  that  there  is  a  lack  of 
space  for  lockers,  a  condition  that 
makes  it  inconvenient  to  care  for 
clothing.  Two  shower  baths  are 
at  the  disposal  of  the  members 
of  the  classes  and  they  are  very 
freely  used.  In  addition  to  pro- 
viding himself  with  suitable  gym- 
nasium clothing,  each  member 

junior  Basket  Ball  Team. 
pays  regular  dues.  These  amount 

to  twenty-five  cents  a  month  for  evening  classes  and  ten  cents 
for  the  boys'  day  classes. 


The  girls'  gymnasium  classes  include  a  variety  of  ages  from 
children  as  young  as  seven  years  up  to  young  women,  yet  the 
same  general  aim  underlies  the  work  of  all.  In  each  one,  quick 
response,  accuracy  and  thoroughness  are  looked  for.  One  of  the 
fundamental  values  of  gymnastic  work  is,  of  course,  the  fact 
that  it  trains  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body,  cultivates  character  as 
well  as  muscle.  The  above-mentioned  requirements  of  prompt- 

25 


Girls' 
"  Gym.'* 


ness,  accuracy  and  thoroughness  affect  the  pupil  in  this  two-fold 
way. 

In  the  younger  class  the  apparatus  work  is  of  such  a  nature 
that  it  will  enable  them  to  work  off  their  high  spirits  and  reckless- 
ness beneficially,  and  give  them  the  exercises  that  their  active  bodies 
demand.  The  use  of  simple  graded  drills  cultivates  memory  and 
concentration,  and  by  a  building-up  process  brings  gradually  into 
play  all  parts  of  the  body.  In  games,  "fair  play"  is  continually 
emphasized. 

In  the  older  class,  the  need  to  be  met  is  a  slightly  different 
one.  Here  the  purpose  is  to  supply  the  lack  of  exercise,  caused 
by  more  or  less  confining  work,  and  to  build  up  the  general 
health  to  resist  the  effects  of  that  confinement.  Accuracy  and 
quickness  are  more  to  be  desired  here  than  heaviness  of  work. 
Special  attention  is  paid  to  the  breathing  exercises.  Basket  ball 
supplies,  besides  the  fun,  the  element  of  team-play,  obedience  to 
rules,  and  a  sportsmanlike  attitude. 

About  25  are  enrolled  in  the  younger  class  of  girls  from  7  to 
14  years  old,  and  18  in  that  for  the  older  ones  of  from  15  to  23 
years  of  age. 

Not  until  one  begins  to  save  money  himself  for  some  definite 
p  purpose,  does  he  learn  the  value  of  money.     This  is  the  experi- 

«,  ,      ence  of  many  of  the  children  depositors  in  the  branch  of  the  Chi- 

R     ,  cago    Penny    Savings    Bank   at    Chicago   Commons.     One    small 

girl,  in  starting  an  account  with  one  penny,  said  with  a  woe- 
begone expression,  "My,  I  spent  lots  of  money  yesterday."  On 
being  asked  the  amount  she  replied  very  seriously,  "Two  cents." 
The  two  cents  meant  much  more  to  her  now  that  she  had  begun 
to  save,  than  it  did  when  she  spent  it.  Much  of  the  money  that 
comes  in  in  small  amounts  from  the  hundred  or  more  depositors 
is  part  of  their  own  hard-earned  money,  and  is  eventually  spent 
for  clothing  or  food  or  provisions  for  the  family.  About  $65 
has  been  taken  in  this  fall  in  amounts  which  average  not  much 
more  than  fifteen  cents,  and  which  are  very  frequently  a  few  pen- 
nies. 

Besides  showing  the  children  the  value  of  money  and  helping 
them  to  save,  the  bank  teaches  them  carefulness.  For  if  they 
lose  the  little  books  in  which  the  stamp  equivalents  of  their  money 
are  placed,  they  forfeit  all  the  money  which  they  have  accumu- 
lated. For  the  assistant,  the  bank  forms  a  natural  introduction 
to  a  family  at  a  most  vital  point-:— the  money  problem ;  and  she 

26 


may  easily  help  needy  families  toward  the  way  to  solve  it.  When 
a  child  has  to  take  out  the  fifteen  cents  she  has  saved,  in  order 
that  the  family  may  have  meat  for  dinner,  one  may  surmise  that 
there  is  trouble  somewhere,  and  the  case  is  investigated. 

A  constant  effort  is  being  made  to  interest  the  older  boys  and 
girls  and  gradually  to  encourage  them  in  starting  regular  bank 
accounts  where  interest  will  be  paid. 

To  find  10,000  or  12,000  children  without  any  place  to  play 
except  the  street  is  enough  to  make  anyone  with  a  heart  look  ", 

around  to  see  what  can  be  done.  There  was  no  play  space  around 
either  of  the  two  public  schools.  A  vacant  lot  is  a  rarity  in  our 
crowded  part  of  the  city.  So  we  got  a  good  neighbor  across  the 
street  from  Chicago  Commons  to  clear  a  corner  for  us,  90  feet 


The  Playground. 

27 


,  ••gjMnBifB'B»»m-»[t— ^.| 


.A 


First  viezv  of  Lake  Michigan.- 


Camp 

Commons. 


by  120.  This  we  rented  and  fit- 
ted up  with  simple  apparatus. 
And  like  the  atmosphere  the 
boys  and  girls  rushed  in,  as 
they  seem  to  do  into  every 
other  place  about  here  not  pre- 
viously occupied. 

The  divorce  of  child  life 
from  nature,  its  flowers,  fields, 
trees  and  green  grass,  streams, 
spaces  and  even  the  lake  is 
pathetic  enough,  to  make  the 
twelve  hundred  outings  to  parks, 
suburbs,  and  country  homes 
memorable  to  our  little  neigh- 
bor boys  and  girls  and  many 
of  their  parents. 
Camp  Commons  pitched  its  tents  last  summer  for  the  seventh 

season  just  north  of  Elgin,  Illinois,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Fox 

River.     In  some  respects 

this    was    the    best    vear 

in     the     history    of     the 

camp. 

The  value  of  the  work 
can  never  be  estimated. 
It  is  the  cream  of  all 
opportunities  for  a  sweet- 
er and  purer  life.  The 
testimony  of  the  110  boys 
and  the  90  girls,  each 
of  whom  with  a  group 
of  40  spent  two  weeks, 
and  of  the  75  members 
of  the  Chicago  Com- 
mons Choral  Club  who 
spent  four  days  at  camp, 
is  unanimous  in  declaring  this  to  be  one  of  the  best  times  in 
their  lives.  They  look  forward  to  another  summer  when  they 
expect  even  happier  and  brighter  days. 

28 


Dish  washing  at  camp. 


"It's  swell,"  say  the  boys ;  and  the  girls  are  already  asking,  "Can 
I  go  next  year?"  The  Choral  Club,  which  rendered  "The  Rose 
Maiden"  in  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  Elgin  for  the 
camp  benefit,  is  planning  for  next  year's  entertainment.  They 
have  been  promised  a  crowded  house  when  they  appear.  From 


Camp  Commons. 


members  of  the  club  came  such  expressions  as :  "One  of  the 
best  times  I  have  ever  had."  "There  is  no  place  like  camp." 
"Before  breakfast  I  ate  three  eggs  and  drank  a  quart  of  milk." 

Camp  Commons  stands  first  of  all  for  getting  the  best  in 
nature.  We  live  in  the  open  and  sleep  in  tents.  Our  evenings 
are  spent  around  the  camp  fire,  telling  stories,  singing,  and  "doin' 
stunts."  The  food  is  simple,  abundant  and  wholesome,  without 
frills,  and  is  served  in  the  simplest  manner.  Much  time  is  spent 
in  walks  through  fields  and  woods,  gathering  wild  flowers,  hear- 
ing the  bird  songs  and  studying  nature  in  all  her  beauty  as  it  is 
displayed  in  the  valley  of  the  Fox. 

Baseball  with  no  "copper"  to  interfere  occupies  much  of  the 
boy's  time,  while  swimming  is  enjoyed  equally  by  both  boys  and 
girls.  For  once,  at  least,  some  of  Chicago's  children  are  clean. 

29 


Back 
to  Nature. 


The  days  are  made  even  more  enjoyable  by  hay  rides,  band  con- 
certs in  Elgin's  beautiful  park,  lawn  parties,  and  "feeds"  at  the 
hospitality  of  Elgin  people. 

The  camp  is  largely  supported  by  the  Elgin  friends,  but  each 
boy  and  girl  who  is  able  pays  one  dollar.  The  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul  railroad  has  been  more  than  courteous  in  its 
relations  to  us,  and  much  good  service  is  freely  rendered  by 
young  men  and  women  in  assisting  in  the  camp  management. 
All  are  eagerly  awaiting  the  time  when  once  more  they  may  burst 
forth  in  the  yell : 

Boom-gig-boom ;  boom-gig-boom ; 

Boom-dig-a-rig-gig ;  boom-boom-boom. 

He-hi-ho.     He-hi-ho. 

Camp  Commons — Chicago. 


The  cooking  school,  while  easily  the  most  popular  branch  of 
or    .s  ic      ^g  (jomestjc  science  work,  is  by  no  means  all  of  it.    Other  house- 
tencc.  ancajrs  an(j  Duties  come  in  for  their  full  share  of  attention. 


The  proper  care  of  the  bed-room  and  of  the  dining-room  and 
table,  sweeping,  dusting,  general  business  of  the  housekeeper, 
sewing,  and  even  rug  weaving  —  all  of  these  interest  varying  num- 
bers of  girls  and  young  women. 

No  less  than  two  hundred  are  enrolled  in  the  13  cooking  classes 
which  meet  during  the  week.  Those  for  the  children  come  in 
the  afternoon;  two  classes  of  girls  are  doing  second-year  work; 
and  the  evenings  are  largely  given  over  to  the  girls  who  are  busy 
through  the  day.  School  teachers  from  one  of  the  neighboring 
public  schools  have  formed  another  interesting  class,  and  a  nor- 
mal class  is  composed  of  girls  who  were  members  of  the  gradu- 
atinf  class  of  1904.  One  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  is  a 
Housekeepers'  Club,  made  up  of  mothers  from  the  neighborhood. 
The  space  exclusively  devoted  to  the  work  is  mainly  taken  up 
with  the  kitchen  facilities,  including  the  tables,  well  stocked  with 
utensils,  at  each  of  which  there  is  room  for  four  girls  to  work. 
The  remaining  space  contains  dining  table  and  fixtures,  and  in 
one  corner  a  loom  for  hand  weaving,  while  a  small  adjoining 
room  serves  as  bedchamber. 

Many  things  to  help  along  in  the  work  of  the  school  or  make 
it  more  attractive  have  been  presented  by  the  girls  themselves. 
One  in  last  "year's  class  gave  a  set  of  dishes,  another  made  a  very 
pretty  plate  rack  of  burnt  wood  —  her  own  handwork  —  and  filled 

30 


A   corner  of  the  Cooking  School. 

it  with  plates,  still  another  wove  a  rug  as  a  gift  to  the  school, 
while  the  class  of  1904  presented  a  clock. 

As  a  very  pleasant  practical  application  of  the  instruction  and 
class-room  experience  in  table  setting  and  serving,  each  class 
prepares  and  serves  a  dinner  once  a  month,  sometimes  to  them- 
selves and  sometimes  to  their  parents,  while  not  infrequently 
they  invite  some  of  the  residents  of  the  house  or  a  few  outside 
guests  who  have  been  especially  kind  to  this  branch  of  the  work. 

Each  week,  as  the  classes  meet,  a  "housekeeper"  is  appointed 
whose  duty  it  is  to  take  general  supervision  of  the  rooms.  Hers 
is  also  the  work  of  taking  care  of  the  bedroom,  sweeping,  dusting 
and  airing  it,  and  making  the  bed. 

The  Rug  Shop  has  turned  out  a  large  number  of  hand-woven 
rugs,  which  have  met  with  a  ready  sale.  The  work  is  all  done 
by  women  of  the  neighborhood  and  the  two  looms  are  kept  busy 
much  of  the  time.  Besides  making  rugs  to  fill  orders,  they  make 
many  a  dull  spot  in  their  own  homes  bright  with  their  deft  hand 
work. 

The  sewing  class  has  an  enrollment  of  220  children  and  20 

81 


"Proof  of 

the 
Podding." 


teachers,  and  Saturday  morning  is  the  time  of  meeting.  After 
sewing  for  an  hour  and  a  half  the  children  march  to  the  gymna- 
sium, where  all  are  put  through  good  drills  and  breathing  exer- 
cises. 

The  members  of  the  dressmaking  class,  numbering  eleven, 
have  achieved  great  success  in  mastering  the  details  of  the  "J°y 
system,"  which  they  are  studying  this  year,  and  will  soon  be 
able  to  cut  and  fit  all  their  own  as  well  as  their  family's  gar- 
ments. Several  girls  will  be  enabled  through  the  training  received 
in  this  class  to  give  up  the  less  profitable  and  arduous  work  they 
are  now  engaged  in  for  the  more  agreeable  occupation  of  dress- 
making. At  the  completion  of  this  course,  one  of  the  members 
of  this  class  will  conduct  a  shirt  waist  class.  In  one  of  the 
advance  sewing  classes  of  the  sewing  school,  eight  little  children 
are  making  for  themselves*  Buster  Brown  suits. 


Educational 
Work. 


Giving  up 
to  the 
School. 


Community  progress  is  frequently  marked  just  as  surely  by  the 
lines  of  work  the  settlement  abandons  as  by  the  newer  lines  it  is 
constantly  initiating.  In  nothing  is  this  more  clearly  seen  than 
in  the  change  that  the  decade  has  made  in  the  educational  classes 
and  work.  Just  as  fast  as  all  the  people  in  their  corporate  munici- 
pal capacity  make  provision  for  the  steadily  advancing  and  higher 
needs  of  neighborhood  life,  the  settlement  is  glad  to  give  way, 
and  hails  each  opportunity  to  join  in  co-operative  effort  for  the 
success  of  the  people's  own  enterprises.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
dominate  thought  in  America  today  is  for  larger  and  larger 
expression  of  true  democracy.  We  are  beginning  to  realize  that 
something  accomplished  by  all  the  people  together,  even  if  it  is 
not  so  efficiently  done  as  a  few  could  do  it  for  the  rest,  is  never- 
theless very  much  better  worth  while.  The  priceless  value  to 
citizenshio  and  the  community  life  gained  from  this  increased 
exercise  of  the  people's  prerogative  lies  in  its  educational  worth 
to  democracy. 

Chicago  Commons,  believes  in  this.  Chicago  Commons  ear- 
nestly hopes  that  the  settlements  may  lead  in  making  answer  to 
those  who  rail  at  the  incapacity  of  the  people's  management  In 
no  better  way  can  this  be  done  than  by  co-operating  with  fellow 
citizens  in  a  spirit  of  democracy  to  realize  our  best  hopes  for  the 
success  of  democratic  institutions,  in  which  we  all  profess  to  be- 
lieve, despite  the  manifest  timidity  and  lack  of  faith  which  a 
portion  of  the  community  always  shows  when  we  come  to  the 
point  of  concrete  application. 

32 


To  this  end  the  educational  classes  and  courses  at  Chicago 
Commons  have  been  materially  modified  and  sometimes  discon- 
tinued, as  the  neighboring  public  schools  fill  the  same  needs.  It 
is  an  inspiring  sight  to  visit  the  Washington  School  of  an  even- 
ing and  find  700  pupils  in  the  night  school,  a  very  large  propor- 
tion of  whom  are  grown-up  men.  One  of  the  early  announce- 
ments of  the  settlement  contains  a  list  of  evening  classes  in 
grammar,  arithmetic,  algebra,  spelling  and  writing,  bookkeeping, 
United  States  History,  French  and  German.  The  list  of  appoint- 
ments for  1904-1905  has  scarcely  any  of  these.  They  are  pro- 
vided at  the  Washington  School.  To  be  found  there,  also,  are 
facilities  for  many  sorts  of  industrial  training — printing  presses, 
looms,  potters'  wheels,  cooking  ovens  and  carpenter  benches  for 
the  use  of  both  regular  grade  and  night  pupils.  These  are  lines 
of  work,  however,  in  which  the  combined  opportunities  open  at 
the  settlement  and  the  neighboring  schools  are  still  very  inade- 
quate to  meet  the  popular  demand. 

In  addition  to  the  Chicago  Commons  classes  in  the  various 
departments  of  music,  manual  training,  domestic  science  and  oth- 
ers which  may  properly  be  termed  educational  even  in  the 
restricted  sense,  there  are  a  Shakespeare  Club,  a  class  in  par- 
liamentary law,  one  in  general  literature,  and  more  or  less  limited 
work  in  pottery,  clay  modeling,  basket  weaving  and  metal. 

An  instance  of  the  helpful  co-operation  with  the  nearby  schools  Helping  the 
is  the  private  instruction  given  to  "backward  pupils."  These  Backward. 
constitute  one  of  the  most  serious  of  educational  problems  in  the 
public  school  class  rooms.  Some  of  the  residents  at  the  settle- 
ment are  devoting  no  little  time  to  individual  work  with  some  of 
these  children  in  reading,  spelling  and  arithmetic.  The  causes 
of  slowness  in  development  are  numerous,  but  among  them  is 
the  fact  that  great  numbers  of  Italian  children  who  are  in  attend- 
ance at  one  of  the  local  schools,  hear  nothing  but  the  Italian  lan- 
guage spoken  in  their  homes.  In  teaching  them  to  read,  the  resi- 
dents who  have  taken  upon  themselves  the  task,  find  that  it  is 
exceedingly  difficult  to  be  sure  that  the  children  actually  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  the  words  they  use.  Their  power  of  imita- 
tion is  so  great,  their  facial  expressions  are  so  intelligent,  and 
they  grasp  an  idea  so  quickly  that  many  times  the  teacher  fancies 
the  child  is  progressing  much  more  rapidly  than  she  really  is. 
The  other  day  a  little  Italian  girl  was  reading  about  the  branches 
on  the  trees,  and  the  twigs  on  the  branches,  when  "teacher"  asked 
her  if  she  knew  what  twigs  were.  O  yes,  yes,  she  knew,  and  her 

33 


eyes  sparkled  so  and  her  white  teeth  gleamed  out  in  such  an 
amazingly  brilliant  smile,  while  such  an  intelligence  shone  all 
over  her  face,  that  the  teacher  was  filled  with  curiosity  to  know 
why  "twigs"  should  bring  out  such  a  display  of  emotion.  So 
she  said,  "Well,  what  are  twigs?"  "Please,  teacher,"  came  the 
answer,  "they  are  two  little  babies." 

Eloc  tion  Poems  of  intrinsic  worth  by  some  standard  author,  which  at 
the  same  time  appeal  to  the  imagination  and  stimulate  it,  are 
used  in  the  elocution  work  with  the  younger  children.  Selections 
from  Longfellow  prove  quite  as  interesting  to  the  child  mind  as 
some  of  the  thrilling  and  melodramatic  street  tales  and  ballads 
of  the  hour.  In  addition  to  recitation  the  children  are  given 
some  physical  culture  and  simple  voice  and  breathing  exercises, 
stress  being  laid  upon  the  necessity  of  remembering  these  points 
in  daily  speech  and  bearing.  Children's  plays  and  simple  drills, 
which  have  been  presented  from  time  to  time,  afford  the  best  of 
good  times  and  enlist  the  children's  enthusiasm  in  discipline, 
thought  and  attention  to  voice  and  carriage. 

With  the  older  pupils,  individual  lessons  replace  class  work. 
Much  reading  of  good  literature  is  done  and  taste  is  cultivated 
by  the  successive  choice  of  poetry  and  prose  that  leads  to  a  real 
appreciation  of  the  best.  Pupils  in  elocution  now  number  nineteen. 

One  organized  dramatic  club  has  been  in  existence  for  some 
rama  ics.  t;mej  ^^  considerable  dramatic  interest  has  shown  itself  in  clubs 
not  specifically  devoted  to  the  presentation  of  plays.  Among 
these,  the  seasonal  performance  by  a  club  of  young  girls  of  an 
adaptation  from  "The  Birds'  Christmas  Carol"  is  noteworthy. 
An  older  group  presents  a  Nativity  Play,  translated  from  the 
Celtic  by  Lady  Gregory.  In  the  work  of  the  Dramatic  Club 
light  comedy  has  prevailed. 

_..    .    .  The  value  of  music  as   a  club  objective  and  as  a  means  of 

affording  a  natural  point  of  contact  with  people,  is  more  and 
more  realized  in  the  settlement.  The  growth  along  these  lines 
has  been  marked  and  at  present  there  are  over  300  persons  study- 
ing music  in  some  form  or  other.  The  parent  organization  is 
the  Choral  Club  which  is  almost  as  old  as  the  settlement  itself 
and  now  numbers  75  young  men  and  women.  Passing  through 
many  vicissitudes  it  now  stands  as  an  exemplary  self-supporting 
club  with  high  musical  and  social  ideals  and  a  splendid  spirit 
of  co-operation  with  the  settlement.  Musically  its  standard  has 

84 


been  raised  from  light  opera  to  oratorio,  and  its  work  has 
proved  so  successful  that  within  the  past  two  seasons  several 
concerts  have  been  given  in  and  outside  of  Chicago. 

An  exceedingly  interesting  and  significant  fact  in  connection 
with  this  club  is  that  they  devote  all  of  their  funds  to  the  ex- 
tension of  some  line  of  settlement  or  philanthropic  work.  Last 
year  they  contributed  $200  to  the  settlement  treasury.  This  year 
they  celebrated  Christmas  by  presenting  a  set  of  furniture  for  the 
settlement  neighborhood  parlor.  A  solid  mahogany,  grandfather 


Choral 
Club. 


The  Men  of  the  Choral  Club. 


clock  standing  seven  feet  high  has  also  been  given  to  the  house. 
It  was  constructed  from  original  designs  and  all  but  the  clock 
mechanism  is  the  actual  handwork  of  the  young  men  members 
of  the  club. 

Supported  by  the  Choral  Club  and  next  in  importance  is  the 
Children's    Chorus    which    numbers    125    school    children.      The 

35 


quieting  and  subduing  effect  of  music  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
transformation  of  this  rollicking  and  irrepressible  mass  of  young- 
sters into  an  orderly  self-contained  group.  The  beautiful  qual- 
ity of  tone  developed  in  these  children  is  truly  remarkable. 

Another  organization  doing  gratifying  work  is  the  Mandolin 
Club,  which,  although  but  recently  started,  already  has  a  mem- 
bership of  twenty-five,  a  large  majority  of  whom  are  Italian 
young  men  and  women. 

Perhaps  the  most  unique  feature  of  the  musical  department 
is  the  Children's  Mandolin  Club,  composed  almost  entirely  of 
Scandinavian  boys  and  girls.  They  occasionally  appear  on  pro- 
grams, wearing  their  old  country  costumes  and  singing  old 
country  songs. 

In  addition  to  all  these  activities  there  are  given  weekly  over 
sixty  private  lessons  in  piano,  mandolin,  violin  and  guitar. 
Progress  in  this  work  is  shown  in  a  series  of  recitals  which 
occur  frequently  during  the  year.  The  social  spirit  among 
the  private  pupils  is  encouraged  by  a  weekly  gathering  at  which 
musical  games  are  played  and  the  history  of  music  is  taught 
in  story  form. 


The  The  Apollo  Musical  club  is  happily  conscious  not  only  of  its 

"Messiah"  at  artistic  but  its  social  function.  Its  artistic  effects  in  the  great 
Chicago  Auditorium  downtown  are  not  more  noteworthy  than  the  social 
Commons,  results  of  its  gratuitous  work  for  these  four  seasons  at  the 
Chicago  Commons  auditorium  in  the  17th  ward.  Before  it 
was  built  they  rendered  their  first  recital  of  "The  Messiah"  for 
the  settlement  in  a  neighborhood  dance  hall,  with  all  the  in- 
congruous accompaniments  of  the  beer  saloon  to  which  the  hall 
is  tributary.  It  was  only  about  half-full.  When  the  oratorio 
was  next  given  in  the  new  auditorium  of  Chicago  Commons 
the  neighbors  immediately  showed  their  appreciation  by  taking 
every  seat  at  25  cents  each.  Since  then  the  pressure  for  ad- 
mission has  been  so  great  that  the  occasion  has  been  advertised 
and  tickets  sold  only  in  the  neighborhood. 

Around  this  central  musical  event  of  the  year  and  the  district 
a  higher  musical  taste  and  greater  musical  privileges  have  all 
the  while  been  growing  up.  In  the  high  art  of  living  and  work- 
ing together  music  must  play  an  even  greater  part  not  only  as 
an  object  lesson  of  diversity  in  unity  but  as  a  medium  through 
which  hearts  and  lives,  however  different,  may  blend. 

36 


Cordial  co-operation  has  always  existed  between  the 
settlement  and  other  agencies  for  betterment  with  which  it 
comes  in  contact.  Particularly  intimate  and  mutually  helpful 
have  been  the  relations  with  the  nurse  from  the  Visiting  Nurses' 
Association  who  is  assigned  to  this  district.  She  makes  the  house 
a  headquarters  and  starting  point  for  her  work  and  finds  that  in 
many  cases  her  welcome  to  the  abode  of  sickness  is  made  more 
pleasant.  After  going  up  two  flights  of  stairs,  through  a  dark 
hallway  and  up  another  flight  to  the  rear,  a  knock  at  the  door 


Visiting 
Nurse. 


Camp  Commons  Swimming  Pool. 


is  likely  to  bring  an  anxious  mother  whose  face  brightens  up  as 
she  greets  the  hoped-for  visitor  with,  "You  are  the  nurse  from 
the  Commons.  Come  right  in."  Husband  out  of  work  and  baby 
very  ill  had  meant  worry  and  sleepless  nights.  One  could  see 
the  traces  in  her  face.  To  an  almost  despairing  enquiry  the 
answer  would  be  given  that  with  proper  care  the  little  one  would 
pull  through  all  right,  for  frequently  it  is  the  encouraging  word 
that  is  needed  most  of  all.  Then  the  next  few  days  are  filled 
with  a  renewed  energy,  self-sacrifice  and  wisdom,  for  the  mother 
realizes  that  unless  she  unceasingly  does  her  part  the  efforts  of  the 
doctor  and  visiting  nurse  will  be  of  little  avail. 

"Sanitation,  like  charity,  begins  at  home,"  once  said  Chicago's 
health  commissioner.    The  visiting  nurse  is  the  most  effective  of 

87 


all  influences  in  bringing  this  truth  to  bear  and  making  it  really 
count.     She  shows  the  people  what  they  themselves  can  do. 

Few  things  do  so  much  to  entrench  the  settlement  and  all  it 
stands  for  in  the  homes  of  the  neighbors  as  the  devoted  service  of 
the  visiting  nurse. 


By  the  kindness  of  Miss  Rene  Stern,  president  of  the  Library 
The          Association,    about    200   books   have   been   circulated   during   the 
Traveling     summer  among  the  children  frequenting  the  public  playground, 
Library-       a  non-resident  worker  acting  as  librarian. 

At  the  end  of  the  summer  these  books  were  placed  in  little 
bookcases  containing  about  50  books  each  and  placed  in  the  homes 
of  responsible  people  who  were  made  custodians  of  the  library, 
each  home  forming  a  circulating  center  among  the  friends  of  that 
particular  family. 


A  Member's       ^  waman  who  had  given  much  thought  and  study  to  social 
Story        conditions  once  said,  "I  know  of  no  existence  outside  prison  walls 
of  the         which  may  so  fittingly  be  described  by  the  adjective  'colorless' 
Woman's      as  tna{:  of  the  wives  and  mothers  in  a  crowded  city  center."    Chi- 
Club.         cago  Commons  had  celebrated  its  first  anniversary  before  work 
for  wives  and  mothers  was  successfully  inaugurated.     The  neigh- 
borhood was  cosmopolitan,  the  women  burdened  with  home  cares, 
there  was  a  diversity  of  religious  faiths  and  there  was  that  wide 
chasm  which  divides  the  interests  of  the  cultured  and  college- 
bred  woman  from  those  of  her  sister  who  literally  was  trained 
in  nothing  but  the  use  of  the  implements  of  household  industry. 
In  the  face  of  such  obstacles  to  unity  and  harmony  of  action, 
a  meeting  of  the  neighborhood  women  was  called,  and  on  Decem- 
ber 5,  1895,  thirteen  met  in  the  parlor  of  the  old  Commons,  to 
consider  the  organization  of  a  club. 

Ten  nationalities  were  represented  by  the  charter  members. 
There  were  Catholics,  Liberals  and  three  denominations  of  Pro- 
testants. 

The  work  began  in  a  most  informal  way.  The  very  conditions 
which  would  naturally  divide  the  interest  of  the  group  were 
seized  upon  to  contribute  to  sisterhood.  Scotch  songs  and  Scotch 
"scones"  emphasized  a  member's  own  recollections  of  Scotland. 
A  talk  on  the  Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun,  given  by  several  Nor- 
wegian women,  created  an  interest  in  that  country,  and  samples 

38 


of  the  sewing  done  by  one  in  her  girlhood  school  days  gave  an 
idea  of  educational  methods.  Personal  reminiscences  of  Germany 
made  the  Fatherland  a  reality  to  all.  A  talk  on  Iceland  by  the 
sister  from  that  little  isle  was  illustrated  by  pictures  she  had  her- 
self secured.  The  customs  of  the  Isle  of  Man  were  told  by  one 
who  had  spent  her  girlhood  there,  and  the  little  woman  from 
Paris  gave  glimpses  of  life  in  France.  Stories  of  the  homeland, 
real  experiences,  served  to  bring  the  members  together  in  a  sis- 
terhood which  has  developed  beautifully  with  the  growth  of  the 
club. 

The  stories  one  member  telis  of  her  experience  when  first 
called  to  preside  are  most  amusing.  She  says  she  knew  abso- 
lutely nothing  of  motions  or  of  parliamentary  phraseology  and 
usage.  But  she  per- 
severed, bravely  re- 
peating aloud  in  a 
tremulous  voice  what 
the  secretary  w  h  i  s- 
pered  in  her  ear. 
From  the  first  the 
members,  though  tim- 
id, took  an  active  part 
in  the  discussion  of 
practical  questions, 
such  as  "How  To 
Please  Our  Neigh- 
bors." "What  Books 
and  Periodicals  Shall 
We  Read?"  and 
"What  Can  We 


Personal 

Power  in 

Natural 

Traits. 


Chicago  Commons  Woman's  Club. 


Women  Do  To  Im- 
prove the  Ward  ?" 
From  the  first,  one  social  meeting  has  been  held  each  month.  Be- 
sides there  were  frequent  opportunities  to  hear  men  and  women 
of  wide  reputation. 

The  Club  outgrew  room  after  room  in  the  old  building  and  it 
now  often  uses  to  their  full  capacity  the  four  beautiful  rooms  in 
the  new  building.  The  Club  has  done  much  toward  furnishing 
these  rooms. 

Interest  is  taken  in  philanthropy.  Among  the  objects  to  which 
contributions  have  been  made  are  the  playground,  the  Chicago 

39 


vacation  schools  and  the  day  nursery.  Thus  have  the  members 
been  made  more  thoughtful  of  others'  needs. 

Chicago  Commons,  too,  is  happily  reminded  of  its  birthday 
each  year  by  some  substantial  gift  to  the  House. 

The  Study  Class  was  wonderfully  helpful.  Women  whose 
hair  was  white  when  they  entered  have  learned  to  prepare  and 
read  essays.  One  member  says  she  has  learned  "that  a  college 
education  is  not  necessary  to  prepare  a  paper." 

There  is  a  Musical  Chorus.  A  calling  committee  looks  after 
the  sick  and  absent  sisters.  The  club  has  a  library  of  its  own 
which  takes  the  place  of  the  traveling  library  formerly  used. 

The  women  say  they  have  been  helped  by  this  sisterhood  to 
become  better  wives,  mothers  and  home-makers.  Some  say  that 


Rooms  of  the  Chicago   Commons   Woman's   Club. 

but  for  the  Club  they  would  not  know  there  was  anything  but  toil 
The  Stranger  and   troub|e_     They  iook   at  jjfe  with  different   eyes;   they  have 

en  '  learned  things  they  had  never  even  thought  of  till  they  came 
together  in  the  Club.  One  writes,  "Some  of  us  had  left  homes 
in  small  country  villages  where  we  knew  everybody  knew  us. 
We  came  to  this  large  city  and  found  ourselves  shut  up  in  our 
homes  as  if  they  were  jails.  We  were  afraid  to  speak  to  our 
neighbors  and  our  neighbors  were  afraid  of  us."  But  these 
friendly  associations  in  the  club  brighten  homes  and  give  a  new 
hope  to  life. 

40 


That  womanliness  is  motherliness  is  as  true,  as  it  is  unusual  Young 
for  young  women  to  think  it.  The  Progressive  Club  is  both  Women's 
proving  it  to  their  own  satisfaction  and  winning  the  attestation  Progressive 
of  others  for  the  principle  exemplified  by  them.  To  have  sought  Club. 
some  of  the  best  mothers  as  associate  members  allied  them  with 
the  real  traits  in  others  which  they  aspired  to  in  their  own  char- 
acter. They  did  more  still  to  make  this  spirit  their  own  by  tak- 
ing an  interest  in  other  people's  children  and  doing  something 
real  for  them.  The  day  nursery  being  in  lack  of  funds  they  set 
to  work  to  help  save  it  for  the  mothers  of  its  little  children,  and 
they  did  it  in  their  own  way.  They  made  400  glasses  of  jelly, 
which  proves  to  be  $100  "to  the  good"  of  the  nursery.  Two 
dozen  dolls  were  dressed  for  the  children  to  play  with  while  their 
mothers  worked  for  their  living.  With  still  more  of  the  mother 
instinct  they  made  up  the  night  garments  which  the  associate 
members  cut  out  of  the  outing  flannel  provided  by  the  club's 
treasury,  and  now  the  district  visiting  nurse  is  taking  them  to  the 
homes  of  sick  children  for  their  comfort  and  betterment.  The 
devoted  leadership,  personal  friendship,  helpful  counsel  and  ideals 
of  art  and  letters  for  which  the  club  is  indebted  to  its  non- 
resident leader,  have  been  an  inspiration  in  the  lives  of  all  of 
them. 

The  response  of  men  to  the  settlement  initiative  was  prompt 
and  at  first  larger  than  that  of  the  women.  But  while  they  ral- 
lied in  larger  or  smaller  groups  for  weekly  "free-floor"  discussion  Community 
of  economic  and  industrial  issues  and  for  occasional  social  gath-  Club. 
erings,  the  movement  to  organize  awaited  their  possession  by  a. 
definite  purpose.  This  did  not  come  for  a  year  or  two  until  our 
ward  shared  Chicago's  awakening  to  her  better  self.  Then, 
weary  of  the  brigandage  by  which  the  two  local  party  organiza- 
tions in  collusion  exploited  the  people  of  the  ward,  a  few  brave 
and  independent  men,  both  republicans  and  democrats,  united  to 
form  the  Seventeenth  Ward  Civic  Federation.  They  respectfully 
preferred  two  just  demands  upon  the  party  management  for  hon- 
est clerks  and  judges  of  election,  and  aldermanic  candidates  for 
whom  citizens  could  vote  without  loss  of  self-respect.  The 
insolent  contempt  with  which  these  friendly  advances  were  met 
and  ignored  forced  independent  action.  A  candidate  running  on 
an  independent  city  ticket  eight  years  ago  was  endorsed  and 
elected  but  counted  out  by  the  two  party  bosses,  one  of  whom 
was  seated  in  his  place.  The  fraud  was  contested  in  the  courts 
and  after  two  exciting  trials  two  judges  of  election  were  sent  to 

41 


Men's 
J7th  Ward 


"So  it  state  prison  for  three  years  for  taking  eighty  votes  from  the  dem- 
Seems."  ocratic  column  in  the  tally  sheet  and  giving  them  to  the  repub- 
lican candidate  in  order  to  count  out  the  independent.  The  even- 
ing he  took  his  seat  in  the  City  Council  the  unseated  boss  re- 
marked to  the  writer  that  he  was  "down  and  out."  To  the 
rejoinder  that  he  never  was  "up  and  in"  he  naively  replied  as  he 
cordially  shook  hands,  "So  it  seems."  The  next  year  the  inde- 
pendent voters  of  the  ward,  led  by  the  Community  Club,  which 
had  become  the  successor  of  the  Civic  Federation,  seized  and 
wielded  the  balance  of  power  after  this  fashion.  A  republican, 
for  whose  nomination  and  election  the  club  took  a  decisive  stand, 
was  elected  in  a  democratic  ward  by  nearly  1,400  majority,  and 
served  with  such  ability  that  he  was  overwhelmingly  elected  to 
the  office  of  city  attorney,  which  he  now  holds.  The  next  year, 
the  republicans  renominated  their  holdover  alderman  of  the  bad 
old  type  against  vigorous  protest.  So  the  independents  turned 
to  the  democrats,  forced  the  nomination  of  a  reputable  and  able 
man  and  elected  him  by  1,800  majority.  The  following  year,  the 
democrats  "reverted  to  type,"  and  again  a  better  republican  was 
elected.  Last  spring  the  democratic  alderman  had  served  the 
ward  and  city  so  well  in  the  Council  and  on  some  of  its  most 
important  committees,  that  he  was  re-elected  for  a  second  term 
without  opposition. 

The  following  letter  explains  the  non-partisan  attitude  of  this 
independent  club : 

To  the  Delegates  of  Our  Republican  Ward  Convention : — By 

Non-partisan   unanimous  resolution  of  the  Community  Club,  the  secretary  is 

Tribute  to     instructed  to  send  you  a  testimonial  of  your  recent  action    (or 

Party.        rather  non-action)    in   respect   to   the   aldermanic   issue.     While 

not  pretending  to  know  all  the  considerations  which  have  moved 

you  in  this  respect,  we  are  satisfied  that  not  the  least  among  them 

was  the  recognition  of  the  public's  interest  in  the  matter,  and  of 

the  propriety   of   returning   a   faithful   servant  in   office   to   that 

office.     It  augurs,  we  believe,  for  better  times  and  a  better  and 

higher  spirit  in  parties.     We  believe  your  party  is  entitled  to  a 

high  credit  mark  for  your  attitude  at  this  time. 

And  so  the  ward  stands,  thus  far,  at  least,  redeemed  politi- 
cally from  being  a  menace  to  its  people  and  the  city,  and  the 

•  42 


Vi 

Q, 


43 


presiding  judge  of  the  election  commissioners  publicly  declared, 
"Through  the  nine  years  during  which  I  have  been  at  the  head  of 
the  election  machinery,  I  have  found  no  more  intelligent,  practical 
and  fearless  execution  of  the  election  law  than  has  been  'achieved 
in  this  ward  chiefly  by  the  leadership  of  this  club." 


Neighbor- 
hood 
Loyalty. 


Between  campaigns  the  club  maintains  its  headquarters  at  Chi- 
cago Commons,  open  every  evening  for  social,  recreative  and 
educational  purposes.  Both  older  and  younger  men  resort  to 
its  comfortably  furnished  and  well-equipped  rooms,  some  of 
them  regularly  and  many  more  of  them  occasionally  to  spend 
their  leisure  time.  At  its  weekly  meetings  the  members  discuss 
with  the  head  of  some  city  department  or  other  expert  such  sub- 
jects as  the  election  law  and  how  to  enforce  it,  the  regulation  of 
apprenticeship,  the  prevention  and  settlement  of  strikes  and  lock- 
outs, direct  primaries,  the  new  city  charter,  the  street  railway 
policy  of  the  city  and  home  trading.  On  the  latter  subject  the 
club  issued  bulletins  to  both  the  buyers  and  sellers  of  the  ward. 
In  urging  the  buyer  to  encourage  the  shop-keeper  to  make  his 
stock  more  complete  by  trading  with  him,  the  heart-to-heart 
argument  concluded  with  these  words,  "If  we  want  to  get  back 
to  old  neighborship  relations,  (which  our  fathers  and  mothers 
had  in  the  earlier  day,  but  which  we  have  almost  entirely  lost) 
one  of  the  first  steps  to  be  taken  is  to  trade  in  our  home  ward." 

To  the  shop-keepers,  the  club  addressed  such  inquiries  as 
these:  "Do  von  keep  your  store  clean?  your  goods  fresh?  etc. 
Do  you  recognize  that  you  cannot  expect  the  community  to  be 
interested  in  your  welfare  if  you  are  not  interested  in  its  wel- 
fare and  progress?  Do  you  say  it  will  hurt  your  business?  It 
pays  to  be  a  fearless  man  and  a  real  citizen  all  the  time,  whether 
it  costs  you  something  or  not.  Until  the  shop-keepers  of  our 
ward  have  lived  these  few  and  necessary  rules  of  life  and  busi- 
ness they  need  not  expect  that  home  trading  will  return  to  them." 

Larger  quarters  for  the  use  of  men  should  be  provided  by  the 
erection  of  the  annex  on  the  adjoining  lot  secured  for  the  pur- 
pose, the  original  design  of  which  made  ampler  provision  not 
only  for  this  club,  but  for  other  national,  trade  and  social  groups 
of  men  for  their  sakes  as  well  as  in  the  interests  of  the  whole 
city.  They  should  have  such  headquarters  and  places  of  resort 
for  which  they  clamor,  free  from  the  deteriorating  influences  of 
the  liquor  traffic  interests  upon  which  they  are  wholly  dependent 
for  any  place  of  meeting. 

44 


The  hearty  fellowship  and  co-operation  of  Chicago  Commons  The  Old 
with  all  the  churches  of  the  neighborhood,  Catholic,  Gregorian  Tabernacle, 
and  several  denominations  of  Protestant  have  already  been  referred 
to.  But  the  relations  of  the  settlement  with  the  Tabernacle  Church 
have  been  so  intimate,  though  independent,  that  it  deserves 
special  mention -among  all  the  other  religious  and  social  organiza- 
tions not  organically  connected  with  Chicago  Commons  that  share 
the  shelter  and  privileges  of  the  house.  In  consideration  of  the 
fact  that  the  new  building  was  erected  on  the  site  occupied  by 
the  old  church  since  1866  it  still  holds  its  services  at  the  old 
corner  where  its  people  have  assembled  for  nearly  forty  years. 
Its  membership,  though  much  depleted  by  the  removal  of  the 
Scandinavian  and  Scotch  families  who  formerly  used  to  be  its 
constituents  now  numbers  169.  Its  best  work  and  hope  is  with 
the  children,  and  young  people,  300  of  whom  are  in  its  Sunday 
School,  200  more  in  its  "Children's  Church,"  75  in  its  Endeavor 
Societies,  from  all  of  which  through  its  confirmation  classes, 
between  30  and  40  grow  up  into  church  membership  every  year. 

Some  of  the  residents  are  members  of  the  Tabernacle,  most  of 
them  serve  as  teachers  and  helpers,  and  in  return  for  the  ground 
site  practically  the  whole  building  is  placed  at  its  disposal  every 
Sunday  morning  and  evening  and  parts  of  it  at  specified  times 
during  the  week.  A  contribution  of  $600  a  year  is  made  from  the 
settlement  treasury  toward  the  church's  share  of  maintenance, 
in  lieu  of  their  exclusive  occupancy  of  "the  old  corner."  The 
church  strictly  preserves  its  independent  and  self-governing  or- 
ganization, and  therefore  prefers  its  separate  publications  for  its 
own  distribution.  Its  regular  appointments  however  are  appended 
to  the  schedule  of  settlement  occasions. 


All  religious  services  are  left  to  be  conducted  by  the  Taber- 
nacle and  the  other  church  groups  which  share  with  it  the  build- 
ing and  active  co-operation  of  the  settlement.  The  church  occa- 
sions regularly  held  in  the  house  are  noted  in  the  schedule. 

The  only  settlement  occasion  on  Sunday  is  the  entirely  unsec- 
tarian  and  recreative  Pleasant  Sunday  Afternoon  from  four  to 
five  o'clock.  It  is  exactly  what  its  inviting  title  describes  it  to 
be.  Stopping  short  of  divisive  points,  and  carrying  the  whole 
crowd  as  far  as  they  will  go  together,  the  family  life  of  the 
community  is  both  unified  and  uplifted  by  this  delightful  hour 

45 


Pleasant 

Sunday 

Afternoon. 


of  song,  pictures  and  story.  Through  the  unfailing  generosity 
of  numberless  friends,  musical,  literary  and  artistic  programs 
continue  to  be  furnished  not  only  without  charge  but  at  the 
expense  of  some  of  the  best  talent  in  Chicago.  The  grateful 
appreciation  of  all  classes  of  our  neighBors  is  attested  by  an 
attendance  which  has  grown  to  test  the  capacity  of  our  audi- 
torium's four  hundred  seats.  To  make  space  for  the  adults 
thus  to  enjoy  their  only  leisure  afternoon,  only  their  own  chil- 
dren, or  those  who  come  with  them  are  admitted. 

A  big  brawny  workman  who  has  seen  much  of  the  rough  side 
of  life,  said  as  he  passed  out  one  afternoon,  "This  lets  up  on  a 
fellow !"  The  restful  pleasure  and  satisfaction  which  tired 
mothers  and  overborne  fathers  take  in  coming  with  their  whole 
family  circle  to  this  only  occasion  they  know  of  which  has 
something  for  everyone  of  them  amply  compensates  for  all  it 
costs  everyone  who  contributes  to  its  varied  and  inspiring  pro- 
grams. 


One  of 

the  Few 

Places  for 

the  Whole 

Family. 


Neighbor- 
hood Parlor. 


The  social  settlement  is  the  only  agency,  except  the  church, 
which  avowedly  aims  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  whole 
family,  by  providing  some  privilege  for  each  one  of  its  mem- 
bers. Where  else  can  the  whole  group  go  together  and  find  such 
provision  for  its  social  needs  as  the  settlement  makes  for  the 
babe  in  the  day  nursery,  the  child  in  the  kindergarten,  the  boy 
and  the  girl  in  the  club,  the  youth  and  the  maiden  in  the  gymna- 
sium and  social  circles,  the  motherly  home-maker  in  mothers' 
meetings,  cooking  class  or  Woman's  Club,  the  fatherly  bread- 
winner in  citizenship  circle  or  economic  discussion?  But  not 
content  with  these  special  provisions  for  separate  members  of 
the  family  circle,  definite  endeavor  is  made  to  minister  to  the 
whole  family  group.  The  neighborhood  visiting  of  the  settle- 
ment household  follows  the  club  members  home,  welcomes  the 
strangers  moving  into  the  neighborhood,  renders  the  amenities 
of  neighborship  in  times  of  sorrow  and  of  joy,  in  the  crises  of 
birth  and  death,  marriage  and  bereavement,  accident  and  im- 
poverishment. 

Neighborhood  socials,  with  invitations  issued  on  the  inclusive 
principle,  gather  entire  family  groups  together  in  the  neighbor- 
hood parlor,  the  hospitality  of  which  is  offered  the  neighbors 
for  their  wedding  and  oth'er  festivities. 

46 


Saturday  night  in  the  neighborhood  parlor  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  occasions  of  the  week.  The  fire  blazing1  in  the  open 
hearth,  the  light,  the  music  and  the  merry  crowd  of  neighbors 
make  a  most  picturesque  scene  and  one  which  is  perhaps  more 
characteristic  of  our  cosmopolitan  neighborhood  than  any  other 
regular  neighborhood  gathering  of  the  week.  There  are  the  _ 
steady  comers,  who,  knowing  the  hospitality  of  the  house,  come  ,  I8^^. 
week  in  and  week  out  without  invitation,  and  also  those  who  are 
specially  invited  by  the  committee  of  residents  who  have  the 
evening  in  charge.  Thus  the  parents  of  all  club  members  are  our 
guests  sometime  during  the  year  as  well  as  our  neighbors  who 
are  not  otherwise  represented  in  the  house.  A  new  feature  in 
the  entertainment  of  the  people  is  the  enlistment  of  interest 
among  the  older  organizations  such  as  the  Choral  Club,  House- 
keeper's Club  and  Woman's  Club.  These  clubs  gladly  co-oper- 
ate in  making  the  occasion  a  merry  one. 

The  children  who  flock  here  in  numbers  are  sent  down  to 
the  boy's  club  rooms  where  games  and  stories  entertain  them 
and  the  mothers  are  freed  from  the  oversight  of  mischievous 
Tony  or  Theresa  for  a  few  hours.  The  babies  are  stowed  away 
in  convenient  niches,  sofas  and  window  seats,  and  amidst  the 
hubbub  of  telephone  bells,  peals  of  laughter  and'  passing  of 
people  to  and  fro,  they  sleep  profoundly  until  it  is  time  to  bundle 
them  up  for  home. 

If  our  guests  are  mostly  Irish,  Irish  jigs,  songs  and  paper 
shamrock  souvenirs  warm  the  heart  of  our  O'Conner  and  O'Brien 
friends.  Mrs.  Sullivan  is  called  upon  to  clog  and  soon  the  whole  Inter= 
irrepressible  crowd  is  clapping  to  the  rhythm  of  her  feet,  until  national 
red  in  the  face  she  stops  amidst  a  burst  of  applause.  One  old  Amenities. 
Irishman  sat  with  tears  streaming  down  his  cheeks,  while  some 
one  was  singing  "Erin-go-bragh,"  and  no  one  who  saw  him  thus 
overcome  would  have  guessed  that  this  big  fellow  was  a  pugilist 
of  local  fame  in  his  better  days.  When  our  guests  are  Italian, 
pictures  of  Italian  scenery  and  Madonna  pictures  are  thrown 
upon  the  screen  and  although  macaroni  is  not  served  for  re- 
freshments, an  effort  is  made  to  appeal  to  them  with  Italian 
material.  The  furniture  has  suffered  somewhat  in  playing  "Go- 
ing to  Jerusalem,"  for  already  two  chairs  have  been  broken  to 
pieces  by  the  sudden  descent  of  a  portly  woman.  Intense  ex- 
citement animates  our  guests  when  the  contest  narrows  down 
to  a  lively  Scandinavian  maiden  and  a  rosy-cheeked  Italian.  It 

47 


is  a  funny  sight  to  see  some  hard-working  woman  drop  the 
burden  of  a  week  for  a  season  to  puff  away  at  a  feather  to  see 
if  she  can  keep  hers  up  longer  than  her  red-faced,  panting  con- 
testant. If  anyone  has  not  thawed  out  by  the  time  the  games 
are  over,  a  cup  of  coffee  hastens  the  process,  and  when  "Home 
Sweet  Home"  is  played,  the  understood  signal  that  the  party 
is  over,  everyone  is  in  the  best  of  spirits  and  the  hard,  driving 
week  has,  at  least,  a  happy  end. 

•"•  At  one  of  the  Woman's  Club  celebrations  of  Chicago  Commons 

Neighborly  birthday  the  member  presenting  their  gift  to  the  house  did  so 
Appreciation.  ^^  tiiese  wor(}s,  "I  have  looked  forward  with  so  much  eager- 
ness to  this  meeting  that  I  am  almost  at  a  loss  for  words  to 
express  the  pleasure  I  now  feel  at  the  sight  of  so  many  friends 
on  this  eventful  occasion.  I  am  sure  our  presence  here  is  the 
best  token  of  our  love  for  the  Commons  and  its  inmates. 

"Two  years  ago,  when  some  of  us  paid  our  first  visit  to  the 
Commons,  we  had  not  the  slightest  conception  of  what  it  would 
become  to  us.  Some  of  us  had  left  homes  in  small  country  vil- 
lages, where  we  knew  every  one,  and  every  one  knew  us.  We 
came  to  this  large  city,  and  found  ourselves  shut  up  in  our 
homes,  as  if  they  were  jails.  We  were  afraid  to  speak  with  our 
neighbors,  and  our  neighbors  were  afraid  of  us.  When  the 
Chicago  Commons  opened  its  doors,  and  invited  us  to  visit  there, 
we  hardly  knew  what  it  meant.  But  we  called,  and  to  our  sur- 
prise found  ourselves  among  friends — friends  that  were  inter- 
ested in  us  and  in  our  daily  lives.  Its  doors  were  opened  to  us 
at  any  and  all  times,  with  a  sympathizing  friend  always  ready  to 
listen  to  us,  encourage,  and  help  us  amidst  the  trials  and  dis- 
couragements that  come  to  all  of  us  some  time  or  other.  Very 
soon  we  began  to  wonder  how  we  ever  managed  to  exist  with- 
out the  Commons.  Now,  through  its  instrumentality  we  do 
know  and  speak  with  our  neighbors  as  our  Woman's  Club  can 
testify.  And  I  know  that  I  but  voice  the  thought  of  my  sisters 
in  the  various  clubs  when  I  say  how  much  we  appreciate  the 
privilege  of  coming  together  here  once  a  week,  and  how  much 
we  enjoy  our  meetings,  both  business  and  social.  I  am  sure 
every  one  of  you  will  join  with  me  in  asking  God  to  bless  the 
Commons  and  its  workers,  and  give  them  long  life  and  pros- 
perity." 

After  presenting  the  lemonade  bowl  and  cups,  as  the  birthday 

48 


gift  of  the  clubs  to  the  house,  she  added,  "We  hope  you  will  not    "With  You 
think  us  selfish  in  choosing  the  gift  we  have.     It  is  true,  we  hope          and 
to   partake  many  times  of   its   contents ;   but   always   with  you,  with  Many." 
and  with  many  others  yet  to  join  us." 

No  better  expression  of  the  aim  and  spirit  of  the  Settlement 
movement  has  come  to  us  than  in  these  sincere  words  of  our 
good  friend  and  neighbor,  from  whose  pencil  and  crumpled  sheet 
of  paper  we  have  copied  them.  The  motive  of  our  whole  move- 
ment lies  in  those  last  few  words,  "with  you  and  with  many." 

The  interior  life  of  the  settlement  furnishes  not  the  least  of    «,  .       ,  , 
its  problems.     Indeed,  what  the  settlement  has  to  contribute  to       H 
the  neighborhood  or  community  life,  or  whether  it  has  any  con- 
tribution to  make  at  all,  is  very  largely  determined  by  the  way 
in   which  it  solves   the  problems   of  its   own   life.      For  its   in- 
fluence upon  the  people  outside  its  walls   can  be  no   deeper  or 
more   real  than  the  relationship  of  the  people  living  under  its 
own  roof. 

These  problems  begin  with  the  relation  between  the  authori- 
tative or  contributory  constituency  and  the  household  of  resident 
workers.  Liberty  for  spontaneous  development  and  activity  is 
the  charm  of  settlement  service,  if  It  be  not  the  secret  of  its 
power.  Any  exercise  of  authority  or  surveillance  beyond  what 
is  absolutely  essential  to  the  corporate  life  and  co-operative 
work  of  the  household,  robs  it  of  its  distinctive  spirit  and 
strength.  Non-resident  control  of  the  residents'  household  life 
and  neighborhood  work,  is,  to  say  the  least,  more  often  a  disas- 
trous failure  than  a  conspicuous  success.  Those  with  whom  the 
ultimate  responsibility  rests  can  fulfil  it  in  no  better  way  than 
to  trust  the  head  worker  and  residents  as  long  as  the  work  can 
be  satisfactorily  committed  to  their  care,  or  to  supersede  them 
with  others  to  whom  the  free  control  of  the  house  and  its  work 
may  be  entrusted.  This  family  freedom  and  household  inde- 
pendence has  created  the  home  atmosphere  at  Chicago  Commons 
and  has  generated  any  power  for  good  which  has  been  exerted 
here  over  the  lives  of  us  residents  or  our  neighbors. 

The  adjustment  of  the  residents  to  each  other  and  their  work 
must  be  a  natural  growth  from  within.  If  at  all  promoted  from 
without  it  must  be  by  an  art  which  ingeniously  conceals  the 
art.  Time  and  patience,  with  self  and  others,  are  required  to 
find  and  fit  one's  self  into  one's  own  niche.  While  the  process 

49 


may  be  ameliorated  by  the  amenities  of  courtesy  and  sympathy, 
it  can  rarely  be  hastened,  and  may  never  be  safely  averted  nor 
avoided. 

To  grow  together  in  the  home  life  of  the  settlement,  the  con- 
Sacrament  <]itions  of  fellowship  must  exist.  One  of  these  is  that  the  num- 
ber of  new  residents  must  not  be  disproportionate  to  the  more 
Daily  Meal.  permanen(;  group.  Upon  the  permanency  and  strength  of  the 
nucleus  who  remain  at  the  center  for  years  depends  both  the 
efficacy  of  the  neighborhood  work  and  the  homelikeness  of  the 
household  life.  An  atmosphere  of  fellowship  and  ideality  must 
exert  its  pressure  unconsciously  upon  all,  if  the  tone  of  inner 
relationship  and  the  standard  of  outer  service  is  to  be  main- 
tained. This  cannot  be  made,  it  must  simply  be.  To  be,  it  must 
find  self  expression,  and  some  medium  of  interchange.  It  may 
not  even  thus  be  foisted  upon  any,  but  it  must  be  fostered  in  all. 

This  household  fellowship — the  having  and  sharing  something 
in  common — requires  social  occasions  for  its  expression  and 
growth.  There  are  two  such.  One  is  the  sacrament  of  the 
daily  meal.  At  least  once  each  day,  generally  at  the  evening 
meal,  the  whole  household  gathers  in  the  joyous  sanctity  of 
friendliest  fellowship.  The  privileges  of  guestship  are  extended 
by  the  whole  group  or  by  individual  residents  to  friends  in  or 
beyond  the  neighborhood,  to  non-resident  workers,  and  to  those 
who  come  to  render  occasional  service.  There  is  no  better  way 
than  this  of  deepening  interest  in  the  settlement,  of  forming 
real  personal  attachments  and  of  exemplifying  social  democ- 
racy. 

T7          „  The  other  occasion  in  which  the  fellowship  of  the  settlement 

Vesper  riour. 

household  finds  fitting  expression,  is  the  vesper  hour. 

Our  household  group  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  residents, 
associates  and  guests,  always  representing  varied  religious  pre- 
dilections, differing  antecedents  and  outlook  upon  life,  one-third 
of  them  being  in  residence  several  years,  and  two-thirds  from 
nine  months  to  a  year  or  so,  has  always  felt  the  necessity  of  some 
common  point  of  contact  where  we  could  all  exert  and  yield  to 
the  uplift  of  our  common  purpose.  The  half  hour  immediately 
after  the  evening  meal  proves  to  be  the  only  time  when  we  can 
all  be  together.  So  we  naturally  linger  in  the  resident's  parlor 
before  going  to  our  evening  classes  or  clubs  or  other  work. 

50 


Neighbors,  non-resident  workers,  members  of  every  club  occa- 
sionally drop  in.  Someone  plays  a  few  moments  on  piano  or 
violin.  A  hymn  or  song  is  sung.  Another,  usually  the  warden, 
though  often  one  of  the  residents,  sometimes  a  guest,  reads  or 
says  something  briefly  that  lifts  us  up  and  welds  us  together. 
Variety  and  interest  are  gained  by  devoting  one  or  two  occasions 
each  week  to  some  specific  purpose.  One  evening  there  may  be 
musical  vespers.  On  another  we  may  exchange  items  of  inter- 
est from  the  most  socially  significant  news  of  the  week,  or 
from  current  literature  and  new  books,  or  from  the  best  things 
gleaned  at  some  gathering  which  we  have  been  privileged  to 
share.  Still  another  such  opportunity  has  proven  to  be  not 
too  brief  for  reading  a  specially  important  volume  through,  a 
few  pages  at  a  time.  A  simple  prayer  is  usually  said  or  sung. 
Once  more  we  sing  what  is  spontaneously  suggested  by  one  or 
another.  The  informal  interview  merges  or  shades  off  into  con- 
versation, and  one  by  one  we  slip  away  or  are  called  out  to  our 
appointments,  carrying  with  us  into  our  work  and  life  the 
vesper  glow  and  inspiration. 

Applicants  for  residence  whose  references  are  satisfactory  are 
informally   admitted   to   the    settlement   household  as   associates    Settjemein 
by  the   warden    with  the   tacit   consent  of  the   residents    whose    Kesidence* 
vote  subsequently  determines  the  permanency  of  their  relation- 
ship.    Guests   are  received   for  brief  periods.     But  those  desir- 
ing to  enter  residence  are  expected  to  apply  for  not  less  than 
one   year,    excepting   the    incumbents    of   university    fellowships, 
and  others  who  may  be  accepted  for  definite  periods  and  work. 

The  residents  are  left  as  free  for  individual  initiative  and 
independent  work  as  is  consistent  with  the  corporate  life  of  the 
household  and  its  co-operative  effort.  A  residents'  meeting  for 
fellowship  in  the  life  of  the  house  and  efficiency  in  the  work 
of  the  neighborhood  is  held  each  week.  To  an  executive  com- 
mittee of  five  members  elected  by  the  residents  in  the  spring 
and  fall,  together  with  the  warden,  is  committed  the  general 
oversight  of  the  settlement.  A  house  committee  of  three  mem- 
bers is  chosen  to  administer  household  interests.  A  residents' 
club,  independently  provides  for  and  manages  the  expenditures 
for  the  settlement  table.  The  cost  of  living  at  present  is  five 
dollars  a  week  for  each  person. 

51 


There  have  been  125  persons  residing  at  the  settlement  for 
periods  varying  from  ten  years  to  one  summer,  of  whom  the 
following  are  at  present  in  residence : 


RESIDENTS. 

p  y  .          Louise  L.  Bock,  Isabella  T.  Bond,  Charles  L.  Burt,  Henry  R 

,  Burt,  Florence  A.  Fensham,  Mary  G.  Field,  Edgar  B.  Gordon, 

Mrs.  Edna  S.  Gordon,  Mabel  A.  Hawkins,  Mary  W.  Price, 
Graham  Taylor,  Mrs.  Leah  D.  Taylor,  Helen  D.  Taylor,  Gra- 
ham Romeyn  Taylor,  Lea  D.  Taylor,  Katharine  Taylor. 


Residents. 


ASSOCIATES. 


Rudolph   Stoess,    Harry    Mock,    Theodore    Nordhaus,    Charles 
T.  Hallinan,  Kathryn  Rockey,  Enid  George. 


COLLEGE     SETTLEMENT    FELLOWS. 

Clara  S.  More,  College  Settlements  Association ;  Anne  Huber, 
University  of  Michigan. 

IN   CHARGE  OF  DEPARTMENTS. 

Musical,  Mr.  Gordon ;  Domestic  Science,  Miss  Bond ;  Boys' 
Clubs,  Camp  and  Probation  Officer,  Mr.  Burt;  Girls'  Clubs, 
Miss  Field;  Manual  Training,  Mr.  Nordhaus;  Gymnasium,  Mr. 
Chas.  Burt;  Kindergarten,  Miss  Bock;  Training  School,  Mrs. 
Bertha  Hofer  Hegner. 


52 


Budget  for  1905. 


As  this  pamphlet  is  necessarily  published  before  the  close  of 
the  fiscal  year,  to  furnish  the  basis  of  the  appeal  for  next  year's 
support,  it  cannot  include  the  treasurer's  report,  which  is  sub- 
mitted to  the  trustees  and  donors  in  January. 

A  deficiency  of  $2,021.35  was  carried  over  from  last  year,  due 
in  large  prut  to  the  decrease  in  income  during  the  six  months' 
absence  of  the  warden,  despite  the  forethought  to  anticipate  and 
prevent  this  contingency. 

This  arrearage  was  partially  offset  by  the  increase  of  over  $600 
in  the  neighborhood  co-operation  which,  through  club  and  class 
fees  and  special  gifts  of  equipment,  approximates  $1,900. 

The  receipts  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  year  give  fair  promise 
of  closing  the  current  expense  account  without  deficit. 

The  estimates  of  expenses  for  1905  are  based  upon  the  average 
annual  expenditures  incurred  in  the  work  at  the  new  building, 
from  which  they  vary  slightly. 

MAINTENANCE  OF  BUILDING. 

Average  for :  Gas  for  light  and  cooking,  $1,145 ; 
coal,  $794 ;  electrical  service,  $227 ;  repair  and  per- 
manent equipment,  $900;  janitor,  engineer  and  ele- 
vator service ;  $1,589 ;  fire  insurance,  $200 ;  tele- 
phone, $129 ;  interest  on  building  debt,  $550. 

Estimate  of  total $  5,500  00 

MATERIAL  EQUIPMENT  AND  SERVICE. 
Average   for :     Cooking  school,  $300 ;   day  nursery, 
$900 ;   classes,  clubs  and  occasional  groups,  $655. 
Estimate  of  total 1,900  00 

OUTING  ACCOUNT. 

Average  for :     Rent,  equipment  and  director  of  play- 
ground, $350;  camp,  $375;  vacation  kindergarten, 
Estimate  of  total 800  00 

OFFICE  EXPENSES. 

Average  for  stationery,  postage  and  printing 400  00 

SALARIES. 

Average  for  seven  heads  of  departments 4,250  00 

Estimated  total  expense  for  1905 $12,850  00 

Matheon   Club  subscription  to   day  nursery... $    400 
Estimated  cash  receipts  from  clubs  and  classes.   1,800     2,200  00 

Balance  to  be  provided  by  subscription $10,650  00 

53 


Balance  due  Dec.  1,  1904,  on  building  and  adjoining  lot  valued 
with  equipment  at  $72,000 : 

Balance  Due        Note  of  hand $  2,000  00 

on  Building.        Street  paving  assessment 682  45 

Note  of  hand 5,000  00 

Balance  due  to  secure  adjoining  lot 1,500  00 


$  9,182  45 
Subscriptions  conditioned  on  paym't  of  whole  am't     1,200  00 


Balance   to   be   raised $  7,9S2  45 

GRAHAM  TAYLOR, 

Treasurer. 


I  give  and  bequeath  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Chicago  Commons 
Form  of 
Beouest       Association,  Incorporated,  the  sum  of  $  to  be  devoted 

to  the  purposes  of  the  Association  as  stated  in  the  articles  of  its 
incorporation. 


Some  New 
Needs. 


Two  fan  motors  for  ventilating  auditorium. 

Printing  press  for  settlement  announcements. 

An  electrical  stcreopticon. 

Pipe  organ  for  auditorium. 

Flagstaff   and   flags ;    American,    Norwegian,    German,    Polish. 

Italian  and  Irish. 

Neighborhood  clock  in  front  of  building. 
Camp  ground  and  cottage. 
Completion  of  building  by  erection   of  annex   for  men's   club 

house. 

54 


"Trustees  of  the  Chicago  Commons  Association,  Incorporated"  Legal 
is  the  legal  title  of  the  body  of  eleven  persons  in  whom  is  vested  Incorporation 
the  right  to  receive  and  hold  in  trust  the  property  of  the  set- 
tlement and  who  are  held  legally  responsible  for  the  conduct 
of  its  work  in  accordance  with  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
incorporated  under  the  general  statute  of  Illinois  providing  for 
corporations  "not  for  profit."  In  the  articles  of  incorporation 
the  purpose  of  the  association  is  thus  stated:  "The  object  for 
which  it  is  formed  is  to  provide  a  center  for  a  higher  civic 
atul  social  life,  to  initiate  and  maintain  religious,  educational 
and  philanthropic  enterprises,  and  to  investigate  and  improve 
conditions  in  the  industrial  districts  of  Chicago." 


Members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  are  elected  annually  in 
groups  to  serve  for  three  years.  Those  now  i:i  service  are: 

David  Fales,  Joseph  Henry  George,  Jane  Addams  and  Susan 
and  Susan  M.  Wood.  (1907) 

Frank  H.  McCulloch,  Mrs.  Otto  H.  Matz,  Edward  L.  Ryer- 
son,  and  Graham  Taylor.  (1906) 

Edwin  Burritt  Smith,  Alexander  B.  Scully,  and  Frederick 
F.  Peabody.  (1903) 

President  and  Treasurer,  Graham  Taylor. 

Assistant  Treasurer,   Susan   M.  Wood. 

Secretary,  Frank  H.  McCulloch. 


Board  of 
Trustees. 


The  Commons 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 
GRAHAM    TAYLOR.    Editor 

For 

INDUSTRIAL  JUSTICE 
EFFICIENT  PHILANTHROPY 
EDUCATIONAL  FREEDOM  and  the 
PEOPLE'S  CONTROL  OF  PUBLIC 
UTILITIES 

A  SOCIAL  SETTLEMENT  PERIODICAL  for  nine  years, 
THK  COMMONS  still  looks  at  life  and  labor  from  the  social  settle- 
ment point  of  view.  Its  broadened  scope  and  enlarged  form 
enables  THE  COMMONS  to  devote  more  space  and  larger  attention 
than  ever  to  social  settlement  interests.  Every  page  contains  in- 
formation that  is  invaluable  to  social  settlement  workers  and  all 
who  are  earnestly  studying  social  conditions  and  forces.  But 
especial  attention  is  called  to  a  notable  series  of  articles, 

A  FEATURE  FOR  1905 
"  Types  of  Settlements  in  Print  and  Pictures  " 

Aims,  methods,  practical  workings,  and  distinctive  phases  of 
settlement  work,  in  this  country  and  abroad,  will  be  discussed  by 
head  residents  and  others,  and  accompanied  by  numerous  illustra- 
tions. 

Send     Postal     To-day     for     Sample     Copy 

The    Commons 

180  Gr<\r\d  Avenue  Chicago,  111. 

ONE  DOLLAR  A  YEAR 

5G 


